


The Middle

by WaterGoddess



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017) RPF, Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Scenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-05 22:44:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14628602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaterGoddess/pseuds/WaterGoddess
Summary: The fall semester at NYU brings freshman beta Elizabeth Chambers and freshman omega Timothee Chalamet together as roommates. Having left behind her family and pre-bond mate Armie Hammer in California, Elizabeth works through existing and new relationships, finding herself in the middle of something unexpectedly extraordinary.





	1. Photographs

**Author's Note:**

> I am not much of a writer, but from the moment I saw CMBYN and discovered TM and AH I knew that the actors would fit well the A/B/O world, and I felt inspired to create something myself. I have adored Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics for years and appreciate the new and diverse world that every author constructs for their story. I write this story knowing that this would never happen in real life, I am not secretly shipping Timmy and Armie to get together, or for a polyamorous relationship to occur between the three of them. I love that Armie and Elizabeth have a beautiful family and happy life together. To me, writing using characters who exist in real life is not writing about those actual people. Instead, I am creating a story in which I take the names, faces, general personalities, and general facts about their lives to create an entirely original set of characters. Like a loose, loose, loose, loose, loose adaptation of a book to film. 
> 
> It is fun to have an outlet to do something creative, and share with the rest of the world. This work will add on tags as it progresses, there will be sexual content along the way, for now everything posted is in the tags. 
> 
> If A/B/O is not your cup of tea, or you do not like fan fictions that use real individuals as the inspiration for their fictional works, I understand, feel free to not read this story. If you do choose to read, thank you and I hope you enjoy! This work starts off as Elizabeth/Armie, with the end game of Elizabeth/Timothee/Armie. There will be 10 chapters. 
> 
> Thank you

The Middle

 


	2. August 26th & 31st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning.

 

**August 26 th **

  
Although Elizabeth Chambers had been to New York City before, it was never for a longer trip than one or two weeks. Unlike previous times where she flew through LaGuardia, this afternoon she entered the city in the shotgun seat of her parent’s car looking out the window to see fast moving traffic and people busily hurrying up the sidewalk. The city was alive and vibrant, just as Elizabeth had known it to be before.  

As the car approached NYU, Elizabeth could see lots of families and future students shuffling around the streets with their belongings, looking as confused, scared, and excited as she knew she was about to be. College was going to be completely different.

The car was filled to capacity with suitcases and boxes that were soon to be inside of Elizabeth’s new dorm room at NYU. Clothes, books, and favorite snacks were neatly filed into the trunk like a game of Tetris. Even though she was leaving her home in California, she felt like there was enough of home coming with her to stave the brunt of nostalgia for a little while. ‘There’s even some of Armie’ she thought and clutched the hood of the jacket she was holding in her lap.

Armie, her boyfriend of 4 years, friend of 7. She could still remember when the tall blonde man started school with her at the age of 11. He was tan and nervous while introducing himself in front of the class, and spoke with a slight accent that she found out was from growing up in the Cayman Islands. Armie was beautiful, she could see that instantly, but he was also fun and kind, as she found out through sitting with him in class. Later that afternoon, she found that she lived in the same neighborhood as Armie and the two began to ride their bikes and explore their medium sized city together. Armie would come to Elizabeth’s house in the afternoon to play Mario Kart with her and her older brothers. Elizabeth would go to Armie’s house to jump on their trampoline or go swimming in the summer.

Three years later, Armie and Elizabeth sat on the swings of their neighborhood park daring each other to go higher.

_“Come on Liz, it’s like you’re not even trying!”_

_“Oh yeah? Then why am I beating you?”_

_“You’re not!” The bars of the swing set rumbled and shook with the intensity of the competition between the two._

_“I bet I can jump off further than you Armie”_

_“Cannot!”_

_“Watch me” Liz turned to him and smiled, a glint of competitive spirit glowing in her eyes. “On three”_

_Armie clenched the bars of the swing and looked forward. “On three”_

_“One”_

_“Two”_

_Armie looked at Liz, she looked out into the sand in front of them._

_“Three!”_

_The two jumped and rolled in the sand, laughing and panting._

_“Look, I won!” Liz shouted, pumping a fist into the air._

_“Did not, we totally tied Liz!” Armie rebutted, laughing for a moment and then falling silent noticing his position. Liz’s hands were on either side of his chest, panting above him with a wide grin of accomplishment. The soft scent of mint, eucalyptus, and vanilla filled his head, he had never smelled anything more comforting or more desirable. Armie looked up at her from the ground and smiled before pushing himself up._

_“I guess you won.” He said._

_“I did, I totally did, I told you I could beat you, I kn-” and suddenly there were lips on her lips, and a hand on her cheek. Liz paused with eyes wide open. Then she closed her eyes and smiled._

Liz smiled in the car, thinking about that moment four years prior, and every moment after. They had gone through high school together, the hardest four years they had faced. When Armie presented as an alpha at 15, she stayed in his room helping him get through the pain and discomfort of his first rut. They went to the doctor the next day to get Armie tested and prescribed suppressants that decreased his rut symptoms to be less painful and more manageable when they occurred twice a year. When Elizabeth didn’t go through rut or heat by 16, she went to the doctor to be tested and was declared a beta. The two fit together in every aspect. They were both competitive, enjoyed pushing each other, and were there to hold each other up through difficult times.  When Armie was bullied, Elizabeth held him up and helped him fight his inner and outer demons. When Elizabeth over-analyzed and got too worked up over school, Armie was there to put reality back into perspective and offer a strong shoulder to lean on. ‘ _We haven’t been apart for 7 years,’_ she thought.

It had been an easy and difficult decision to accept at NYU. Easy in the sense that studying journalism in the city that never sleeps had been a dream since she was a little girl. Being accepted and offered enough scholarship money plus financial aid had secured the easy early decision on the university. Everything else was hard, leaving Armie behind in California was hard. Leaving behind the place she had lived since birth was hard. But leaving Armie behind was harder.

‘ _It’ll be OK Liz, I’ll be everywhere auditioning for roles anyways. You won’t have to deal with me being gone all of the time and possibly working crazy hours. It’s only two maybe three years at most before we’ll live in the same place again. And I’ll see you in a month in Boston anyways. You worked so hard to get into NYU on almost a full ride Liz, it’s your dream. Go live it.’_

Elizabeth looked down at the jacket, and then brought it up to her nose, inhaling the rich woody scent it held. Exhaling, a sense of calm washed over her. ‘ _How am I going to go a month without his scent’?_ The jacket would have to do for now, she thought.

“Lizzy, we’re here!”

Looking over at the seat next to her, Catherine Chambers bounced excitedly in her seat with wide eyes darting everywhere she could see. The 15 year old had never seen the big city and her eyes held the same love that Elizabeth remembered holding herself at her first visit.

Elizabeth reached over and hugged Catherine into her, nuzzling her face into the younger girls curls while the later lightly purred. “I remember my first time in New York, I fell in love so quickly I never wanted to leave”.

“Well, now you get to live here, where it isn’t scorching hot all of the time” Catherine grumbled. Elizabeth laughed. “You can come visit, we can see snow together in the winter.”

The two looked out the window as their parents pulled into a designated unloading area for all freshman NYU students.

Catherine looked up, “Promise you won’t forget about me?” Her eyes softer than before, holding a melancholy that made Elizabeth’s heart ache.

“I couldn’t” She smiled.

Catherine, Elizabeth’s little sister, was her closest sibling out of the four of them. John, the oldest and an alpha was 26 and living in Los Angeles as a lawyer with his family. Joseph, the second oldest, and a beta, was 23 and entering the business world in Los Angeles as well. The two older brothers visited and called often, Elizabeth missed them very much when they were gone.

But Catherine, the youngest and an omega, had just presented three months prior to this day in August, and Elizabeth felt protective of her younger sibling. She remembered the day Catherine, Cat, had come into her room burning up in the middle of the night sweating and got into her bed. _‘Heat’_ Elizabeth had known instantly and held her, stroking her hair and letting bury her nose in the elder’s neck, breathing in her steady and calming beta scent. Eventually Cat fell asleep and Elizabeth watched her though the night to ensure her comfort. She took her to the doctor the next day to get suppressants that worked the same way alpha suppressants did. Reducing the severity of heat symptoms to make them less painful and more manageable when they occurred. Modern medicine truly was a blessing.

Elizabeth enjoyed the relationship she had with her omega sister, she got to do things with her that were out of reach with her older brothers. Elizabeth and Cat would cuddle on the couch together, she enjoyed getting to braid and comb through her sisters hair and feel the comfort in holding her while watching a movie. She knew that she would miss the intimacy and close relationship she had with Cat while at NYU.

She felt lucky that her family was staying with her until the 30th, they would help her unpack her room and get settled in. Then they were going to explore the city and introduce Cat to the subway, her first metro system. Elizabeth knew that this was going to be an exciting time in life, but the loss she faced weighed heavy on her mind. Hopefully she’ll have a roommate that understands how she feels, maybe they’ll even be from California.

“Ready Lizzy?”

She looked up to see her mother and father smiling at her.

“As I’ll ever be” She said and opened the car door to walk onto NYU’s campus as a student for the first time.

___

 

**August 31 st **

Timothee had lived his whole life in New York City, running around the concrete jungle while taking up residence in Hell’s Kitchen. He felt lucky to have been raised in an open-minded and diverse city, shuddering to think of what it would be like to be a male omega in certain parts of the United States. While his omega status had never gotten him into trouble, and there was generally equality between the three dynamics in the country, prejudice would always remain.

The New Yorker walked through the dorms with a suitcase and roller bag, the first of his few trips between his family’s home and his new dorm. It was strange to not be living with his parents, but he was excited to have more freedom. He was excited to be around people who weren’t all into performing arts. But most of all, he was excited to meet new people who weren’t from New York.

Timothee turned down the hallway he was pretty sure his room was down. _‘I wonder who my roommate is’._ He had never shared a room with someone else, even when Pauline was still living with him and his parents they had separate rooms. Although, he would sneak into her room on many nights of the week to cuddle close and enjoy each other’s company. Pauline, his older sister, was an alpha and the two were very close until she moved out two years prior to live with her beta and omega mates on the upper west side. The bonded trio let Timothee visit as often as he wanted, but he didn’t want to overstay. Especially when he showed up and saw things that he can now never un-see or un-hear.

 _‘I guess college is also going to be a lot of getting over things I see and hear._ ’ Timothee thought as he walked past a slightly cracked door and heard the lofted bed creek while hushed pants come through. He made a face _‘classes haven’t even started and yet I’m already being subjected to things I don’t want to hear’._

On his left, Timothee found his room number: 364 and used his key to unlock the door but it wouldn’t budge. He fumbled with the door before it jerked open and awkwardly pushed both of his bags through and into the room, finally closing the door behind him and taking everything in.

The room was half decorated, pictures everywhere on the left hand side. Scenes of what looked like a family on the beach, teenagers playing sand volleyball, and a couple kissing on the bed of a truck. Timothee noticed lots of magazine covers and newspaper clippings on the wall, _‘maybe they’re a journalism major?’_  He put his things on the bed and got ready to leave again when the door opened and a girl walked through with a poster roll and purse.

“Hey there” she said and smiled. “I’m Elizabeth but any form of Liz, Lizzy, Lizbeth are good as well.”

“Hi” Timothee said. He didn’t know what else to say, Elizabeth seemed friendly but he wasn’t very good at small talk.

“So are you a…?” She paused. Timothee wasn’t sure what she meant. Then it clicked.

“Omega” He said. “You?”

“Beta” She said. “I’ve heard that some schools are rooming betas with omegas and alphas instead of matching up dynamics. I wasn’t sure if they did that here too.”

“I think it’s because there’s a larger amount of beta’s that go to NYU than omegas and alphas, there aren’t enough omegas to room only with each other, and rooming alphas together doesn’t always work out here.”

“Hmm” Elizabeth looked at Timothee perplexed for a moment.

“There have been some lawsuits around here recently” He said. “Are you from New York?”

“Oh, no.” Elizabeth laughed and she took her poster out of the roll and onto her bed. “I’m from California, just got here a few days ago with my family, they left yesterday. But I’ve visited twice before and always wanted to come to school in New York. So here I am”.

Timothee smiled.  “I’ve lived in New York my whole life”.

“Wow that must have been so fun, there’s so much to do here, I’m jealous.”

“It has its perks” he smiled, “I can be your tour guide now”.

“That’d be great.” Elizabeth smiled back.

Timothee looked back at his bed and then to the door. “I have to keep moving things from my apartment, or I guess now my parents place. Keep me company and carry a bag or two and I’ll pay you back with pizza?” He asked sheepishly, rubbing his neck and looking at the floor, not expecting her to say yes.

“Sure, I have nothing else to do today.” Elizabeth slid her sandals on and grabbed a large jacket off of the bed.

Timothee looked up and smiled before grabbing his wallet. Elizabeth passed him while trying to get her arm through the jacket sleeve, which accidentally hit Timothee across the face. He winced and slightly gasped out of surprise before the scent registered.

Timothee had been around omegas, betas, and alphas of all kinds before, New York was the perfect place to meet everyone and anyone. He had made friends and acquaintances from everywhere in the world. But he had never been affected by someone’s scent as strongly as the one coming from the jacket Elizabeth finally was able to get on. It went away as soon as it came, but he had to take a few deep breathes before feeling just near normal again.

“Um, sorry, before we go, I need to pee”. Timothee rushed out of the room, making his way to the bathroom down the hall. He opened the door and quickly locked the door behind him, before sinking to the floor. _‘What was that, who was that, why do I feel this way?’_  

Warmth, a smoky warmth was the perfect way to describe it. It smelled like the woods that his parents had taken him and Pauline camping in, the fires that they would cook dinner over. It reminded him of the comfort and protection that they gave. But it was also sweet, like toasted marshmallows, fun and playful. It made him feel safe, warm, good. It made him want more.

‘ _Get ahold of yourself Timmy, you probably just made your new roommate think you’re absolutely crazy’._ He looked up at the ceiling, “it’s probably nothing, just let it go. Even if it is something, you can’t ask her why her jacket made you literally lose control of yourself, you just met.” He whispered.

Timothee took a breath. He stood up, washed his hands and splashed water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror one more time. _‘Act normal’._

He made his way back down the hallway, Elizabeth was waiting for him.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Let’s go.”


	3. October 9th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> General Rules for Speech:
> 
> “Conversations happening in present day”
> 
>  
> 
> _“Conversations happening in the past”_
> 
>  
> 
> _Thoughts happening in present day, or denoted to be happening in the past_
> 
>  
> 
> _  
>  Text messages/emails/messenger systems not by Elizabeth  
>  _
> 
>  
> 
> Text messages/emails/messenger systems by Elizabeth

 

**October 9 th **

 

“I was gone for 4 days, not a year.”

“But I missed you!” Timothee drawled while clinging to Elizabeth. “I was stuck here… alone.” He whined.

“Yes, you were stuck here, in what is regarded to be one of the best cities on Earth and has tons of things to do every single day,” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “How horrible that must have been.”

“You’re right, it was.” Timothee missed Elizabeth, the campus had almost emptied out from students visiting their families or going on small trips to cities close to New York. He chose to stay and see some friends from high school that came back to visit their own families. He visited Pauline for a few hours, but he wouldn’t get to see her properly until thanksgiving because of her constant traveling for work.

“Poor baby,” Elizabeth laughed.

“You got to leave and go to Boston to see your family, I stayed here and delivered pizzas on my bike, I win this argument.”

“Ok Timmy, you win.” Elizabeth set her bag on her bed. She had missed him as well, although they had only been roommates for a little over a month, the two had become close friends quicker than she had even made a friend before. Timothee was adorable, charming, and an incredibly talented performer. He asked her to give him feedback on his monologues for acting classes or used for auditions. In a little over a month, he would be in _Death of a Salesmen_ , which they celebrated the news of with an impromptu dance and rap party in their room.

Elizabeth shuddered, _‘I still don’t know if Timmy rapping is the most adorable or horrible thing I’ve ever witnessed’._

“You don’t have classes today, right Liz?”

“Nope, Tuesdays are off now that my class got cancelled.”

“Lucky, I’ve got U.S. history for three hours. Remind me never to take a class that lasts three hours again.” Timothee flopped himself down onto Elizabeth’s bed next to her bag.

“Is there anything else you’d like to complain about?”

Timothee whined, “Yes, so, so much more. Don’t make me go to class Lizzy!”

She smirked and ran a hand through his hair.

“You go to class, and we’ll watch a movie tonight?”

“If I’m alive by then.”

Elizabeth gave him a look of amused exasperation, pulled him up, and gave him a hug. He ran his nose along her neck and breathed in.

“Better?” She asked.

Timothee pulled away, “Much”. He reluctantly stood up, grabbed his bag, and made a show of slowly walking out of the room.

“Bye Timmy.” She said.

“Ugh,” he groaned and slammed the door.

Elizabeth laughed, grabbed her phone, and made her way to their couch.

_ Am I already allowed to say that I miss you? _

It was a text from Armie.

Going to Boston had been fun, her parents, brothers, and Armie had all decided to meet up for a weekend family vacation. Catherine couldn’t miss school and stayed with their aunt and uncles while they were gone. Elizabeth was grateful for the opportunity to get out of New York for a few days, while she loved the city it could easily become claustrophobic and loud. The group visited some of the historical sights, ate out at restaurants that she didn’t have to pay for, and most importantly gave her time alone in a hotel with Armie.

 _Armie_ , she smiled. She had missed him more than she knew she could. Getting to be with him for three days after a month’s separation had been intense and everything she needed. She hadn’t told Timothee about Armie, so she hadn’t had someone to talk to about missing him, other than Armie himself. She wasn’t hiding anything, it was just difficult to talk about Armie without becoming emotional, and he never came up in conversation.

When the two started their senior year of high school, they had talked about mating. Having been together for three years, and with no end to their relationship in sight, it was the next step that they both wanted to take together. Most people mated at least one person by the time they were 18, mating was a common part of society that was cherished and held to a high standard. When couples or triads, or however many people wanted to be mated, they submitted an application for approval to the government that took at least six months waiting period.

Previously, people who wanted to be mated could mate and procure a mating certificate within a few days of the process. However, this caused many issues in people getting mated out of spontaneity and regretting the decision. There was a high number of people who broke their bonds in the United States. This had heavy repercussions on the emotional and physical lives of many citizens and the government looked for a way to reduce this. They decided that a couple or group wanting to become mated in the eyes of the law would submit an application that would almost always be accepted, but would take at least six months to approve. While the physical process of completing mate bonds could still occur between the applicants, it denied the legal benefits of mating. This resulted in more couples and groups delaying the physical bonding process until the legal one had gone through, due to the physical implications that necessitated special accommodations after mating.  If couples or groups mated before obtaining the legal certifications, and tried to arrange special accommodations from their work or school, then they may have to pay a fine for mating before approval.

Elizabeth couldn’t even imagine mating before approval, or mating before being in a secure situation and environment. Forming a mate bond with someone was physically taxing, she had been told that the biting process was very intimate and tiring. It required constant physical contact over the few days after the bond was formed, and resulted in a higher level of intimacy between the pair or group. _Waiting was a good idea, even if it’s hard_.  If they had mated before being separated by a whole country, it would have been unbearably painful.

When they first met in the hotel room, they just held each other, cuddling and scenting for an hour before being able to separate. They talked about Armie’s auditions and his upcoming small guest starring roles on desperate housewives. They talked about Elizabeth’s classes and how she was liking living in New York. They talked about everything but how much they missed each other and the difficulty of not having the other there every day. Elizabeth gave Armie his jacket back and he laughed, also giving her back her shirt. _“It doesn’t smell like you anymore,”_ He whined and grabbed her around the middle, pulled her on top of him and nuzzled his face into her neck. _“You smell so good Liz, I missed this so much”_ She lightly hit his arm. _“Hey, no talking about that”_ He laughed and lightly growled, _“Make me”._ She smirked and leaned down, pressing their lips together. He rolled them over so he was on top and Liz gasped, breathing in his warm heavy scent. _“Alpha”_ she gasped. Armie growled, _“We don’t have to be at dinner for two hours right?” “Right” “Great”._

Yeah, there were so many things that she missed.

No, I already miss you too, I have since I left. What are you doing now?

_ Having dinner with your parents and Catherine.  _

That’s so not fair

_ We wish you were here  _

We have to stop talking about this, what if instead of every time we want to say ‘I miss you’, we say something else?

_ Like what? _

IDK

_ This was your idea, lol  _

_ What about: later’s baby? _

We should have never watched fifty shades, don’t bring that horrible movie into our conversation

_ We do it way better than them anyway _

We do ;)

_ Did you take my shirt? _

Did you take mine?

_ Fair enough _

Elizabeth looked over at her bag, got up, and found the shirt Armie wore on their last day together in Boston. It was a large white t-shirt that clung tight to Armie’s muscles but was big on her. She took off her tank top and slid the soft cotton shirt onto her body before taking a picture and sending it to Armie.

I regret nothing

Grabbing Timothee’s blanket that they shared off of the back of the couch, Elizabeth settled onto the sofa to take a nap since she didn’t get much sleep on the plane that morning. The scents of her roommate and boyfriend mixing together lulled her to sleep.

 

\---

 

Timothee left theatre practice, grabbed his bike, picked up a free pizza from work, and headed back towards his room, excited to spend the night doing nothing but sitting on a couch watching a movie. The mini-fall break that they had was boring, he didn’t have anything to do except work and homework. Homework that he especially didn’t want to complete, even the theatre class work was a pain to get through.

 _I still don’t know if college is for me_. Timothee didn’t want to stay in school for very long, he already knew that at the beginning of the semester. However, his parents and agent thought it would be a good idea to get his degree, just in case he decided that acting wasn’t for him, or he wasn’t able to get many jobs doing what he loved.

_“It’s not that we don’t believe in you Timmy, we just want to make sure that you’re able to support yourself no matter what happens in life.”_

He knew that his parents were there for him through anything, and supported his decision to act. They let him enroll in a performing arts high school, and went to all of his performances that they were able to see. He felt lucky to have their unconditional support, not all of his classmates had that from their families.

College wasn’t fun, but there were parts of it he was enjoying more than he thought he would. Rooming with Elizabeth was a godsend. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to get roomed with the beta.  Elizabeth’s family dynamic seemed similar to his. She had made jokes about him becoming her new little sister and he denied it but strangely accepted his new role. It wasn’t a stretch, he missed having Pauline around him and Elizabeth was a great pseudo-big sister.

 _But Elizabeth is so different._ Timothee loved how she was serious and studious about journalism, he could tell that she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. She came into NYU with over a years’ worth of AP credits, so she would only be going to school for two or three years here. Even though she valued her studies, Elizabeth was also one of the most fun people Timothee had ever knows. They stayed up dancing and rapping with each other, watching movies, riding their bikes around campus and finding the best and least expensive hole in the walls restaurants to eat at in New York.

 _She also brought that jacket_.

Timothee had tried to forget about the first day that they met but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had never encountered someone who made him feel the way that that person did, and he didn’t even know who it was. _Like hell I’m ever going to bring it up._ Elizabeth had told him about her family, she had two older brothers and a younger sister, it was probably one of them. There was no way, he decided, that discussing the fact that he was uncontrollably affected by one of her family members would go well. Keeping it a secret would be best for everyone involved. Especially since one of her older brothers was happily mated, and her younger sister was Elizabeth’s pride and joy. _I’d be killed_ , he thought. _There’s no way that would go well._

But he also couldn’t deny that he had never felt that way before in his life, and he was afraid that maybe he wouldn’t ever feel that way again.

Timothee opened the door to his room and sprang in, dropping his bag on the floor.

“Lizzy!” he shouted, and she jumped up from where she was lounging on the couch.

“Just so you know, I didn’t miss you at all.” She grumbled but then saw the pizza. “Never mind, I missed parts of you.”

Timothee pretended to be offended, then changed into sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. He hated wearing jeans and fancier clothing, it was much more comfortable to be in sweats. _But not track suits_ he furled his nose, _there’s something odd about those_. The comfort of sweats and cuddly nature of them appealed to the omega, he loved wrapping himself up in blanket burritos and snuggling into the corner of his bed or couch. Sometimes when Elizabeth found him burrowing she laughed or took pictures, but most of the time she would crawl in behind him to cuddle. He loved feeling small, curling into himself and being held.

 _Wow_ , he though, _it’s been too long since I’ve had a partner._

“What are we watching?”

“Cars?” Elizabeth asked, holding up the remote and pointing it at the on demand screen.

“Works for me” He said, sliding down onto the couch next to her and putting the pizza in between them to eat.

Rehearsals had gone late, it was almost 8pm and he hadn’t really eaten during the busy day. He also hadn’t slept well while Elizabeth was gone for the break. Timothee had gotten so used to having her in the room that he felt a physical difference when she wasn’t there. Well, that and he made a stupid decision to watch this Japanese mini horror TV series on Netflix to curb his boredom and then couldn’t sleep. _Still worth it,_ he thought.

After finishing the pizza, Timothee found his place curled up on Elizabeth’s side, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and let his head lean against her stomach. Timothee feeling drowsy already, relaxed and took a deep breath, hoping to breathe in her calming scent.

Instead, his whole body was seized with the scent he had never thought he would experience again. With Elizabeth’s arm securely wrapped around him, he couldn’t escape. The last time this happened, he was fully awake and aware of what was going on, he was able to get in control of himself as he was afraid of what would happen if he surrendered to it. This time he was half asleep and didn’t know if he had enough energy to fight it. Somehow this time it was different. At the end of August, Timothee felt like he was going to start leaking. This time, it felt less arousing and more comforting.

He let go and tried to act as normal as possible, but that rich marshmallow and campfire sent that made his whole body sing. It was hard to think about anything besides the way Elizabeth’s shirt smelled, it made him want to close his eyes and sleep.

Timothee felt safe, warm, and drowsy. It only took a few minutes for him to let sleep take over.

 

\---

 

Elizabeth felt Timothee shift and press his head into her stomach, as if trying to get even closer to her, he had fallen asleep. _That didn’t take long._ His head nuzzled against her and she smiled, _I wish I had my phone, he would die seeing this later_. She looked back up at the screen and brought up another piece of pizza to her mouth.

Timothee was completely unaware of what he was doing while asleep. He let out a small faint whine, and slowly moved to wrap his arms around Elizabeth’s middle, hugging her into him, trying to get more of the scent coming off of the shirt.

Elizabeth found it absolutely adorable, it reminded her of being close with her sister at home in California. The similarities weren’t lost on her. While Timothee and Catherine weren’t very similar in personality, they shared the same sweetness for physical affection that Elizabeth was more than happy to provide. She wasn’t certain if it came from being omegas, youngest siblings, both, or neither. But she was pleasantly surprised to have a roommate she felt comfortable being this openly affectionate with, it calmed her and satisfied the beta part of her that wanted to provide and take care of others.

Watching Cars was a more enjoyable experience than she thought it was going to be, not being one for a lot of animated movies. But Elizabeth always liked Pixar movies, when Armie and Elizabeth had seen Up they were a sobbing mess after the first 10 minutes of the film. _It’s definitely better than fifty shades, that was a disaster._ She remembered laughing hysterically with Amie while watching it in their Boston hotel room. Cars was one of Armie’s favorite movies, it felt nice to watch something that meant so much to him.

The movie was almost over. Timothee was still having his way with her shirt.

 _My shirt._ She thought. _He’s never done this before._ She paused.

_Wait._

_It’s not my shirt_.

_It’s Armies._

Elizabeth felt like a wave just crashed over her even though she couldn’t move an inch.

 _He likes Armie’s scent._ She looked over Timothee’s body.

_No, he more than likes Armie’s scent, I’ve never seen someone react this strongly to someone else._

She tried to avoid waking Timothee by lifting up her hips and using her hands to guide his arms out from under her. This was met with high resistance, Timothee whined and held onto her tighter, hands grasping onto the back of the shirt.

Elizabeth was shocked, and settled back into the couch. _How was he acting before he fell asleep?_

She tried to remember, but he passed out pretty quickly into the movie when they started it. He seemed tired.

For a moment, Elizabeth was confused, then scared. If he liked her boyfriend’s scent that much, where he was seeking it out while just sleeping, it must be affecting him strongly. Which means that they would be extremely compatible mates. _But he’s my mate_ , for a second a possessive flare lit up in her mind before it settled down. _Well, he’s going to be my mate_.

She looked down at Timothee, _he’s so adorable and fun, Armie would love him_. She sighed.

 _Nothing has even happened, you’re friends, he trusts you, and he’s asleep in your lap, how much more trust can one show you?_ Elizabeth was conflicted, this was never a situation she thought she’d find herself in this fall.

She finally accepted that Timothee wasn’t going to let her off of the couch after one last attempt to sneak away. After the TV was turned off with the remote, and she shifted to lay down along the couch with Timothee, Elizabeth shut her eyes and tried not to think about the recent development.


	4. November 20th, November 23rd, November 25th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if any of you haven’t seen Timothee’s Death of a Salesman monologue that he performed in the movie Ms. Stevens, you should look it up on YouTube and watch the movie on Netflix.
> 
> A lot of the information I use for this story comes from interviews, past work, or articles written about Timothee and Armie.

**November 20 th**

 

Elizabeth rushed into her room and let the door slam behind her, backpack falling to the ground with a loud thud.

_Crap, crap._ Her test took longer than she thought it would take. _Why did it have to be essay, he said that it would be multiple choice!_ She grabbed her suitcase from underneath her bed and caught the stack of shirts formerly pushed against it, before grabbing two of them and stuffing them into her suitcase.

_I will never again not pack my suitcase the night before_. Looking at the clock, Elizabeth realized that she had fifteen minutes to get everything together before needing to grab a bus on campus to get to the airport. She was finally getting to go back home to LA for thanksgiving break, it was hard for her to believe that she was going to go back after three months. The next 5 days were her reward for working so hard, and a break before getting into finals when she returned.

After grabbing as many clothes as she knew she would need, essential toiletries, and her laptop she took a breath and paused to look at the clock. 7  _more minutes_ , _I think that’s everything_. Elizabeth finally noticed the music playing from the couch, looked over, and saw Timothee watching her with a slightly scared expression with a spoon and jar of peanut butter.

There was a pause.

“You ok?” He asked.

Elizabeth leaned against the bed.

“Never let me not pack the night before, I don’t have enough time, no matter what I say.”

“Did you get everything?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Timothee slightly frowned, “You’re going to leave me again, but this time for five days.”

Elizabeth laughed, “This again?”

Timothee put the jar of peanut butter on the ground and sprawled out on the couch. “Yes, Lizzy. Stop leaving! What am I going to do? The play is over, there’s no rehearsals, I have no homework.”

“So you have unlimited amounts of free time to have fun.”

Timothee narrowed his eyes and looked up at her.

“Take me with you.”

Elizabeth looked at the clock, 5 _minutes_.

“Have a good time with your family Timmy, you get to see Pauline right? She’s coming back from her 3 week trip to London?”

Timothee smiled to himself, he was excited to spent time with Pauline as he had barely seen her since the semester had started.

“Yeah, I’m going to try to steal one of her blanket scarves for the winter, she comes back from the UK each time with a new one. They’re so much better over there than here.”

“Shit!” Elizabeth panicked. W _here did I put Armies’ shirt?_

She started to frantically look through her laundry basket, _2 minutes_ , she realized at she looked at the clock.

“Timmy, have you seen a big white shirt anywhere?” Elizabeth didn’t know what she would do if she couldn’t find it. The two always took something of each other’s to have while they were away, but they returned it on the next trip back to exchange it out.

“I don’t think so, but let me look.” Timothee got up from the couch and went over to his giant pile of laundry on the floor, digging in to look for the shirt.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, “I have one good idea of what you could do over break.”

“Gee, thanks mom.” Timothee paused, “Is this it?” He said, lifting up a large white shirt.

“Yes!” Elizabeth grabbed it and stuck it in her backpack.

“Sorry, I thought that was mine, we struck the set and cleaned up so fast, I thought that this was a costumes piece.”

“It’s fine.” She grabbed her suitcase and put her jacket on before running back over and giving Timothee a hug.

“Five days won’t be long, have a great break Timmy.”

She ran out the door.

 

\---

 

Luckily a bus was coming to the stop just as Elizabeth got to it on the edge of the sidewalk. The bus was full because so many people were traveling for the holidays. _I’m glad I got my plane tickets months ago_. She didn’t mind the forty minute bus ride, it was nice to calm down after the panic of the day. Traveling was always fun for Elizabeth, she enjoyed riding planes and being surrounded by people from every part of the world.

She got to the airport, her boarding passes printed, checked her bag, made her way through security, and found her gate. The school week had been hectic and Elizabeth hadn’t stopped moving or studying for days, this break would be only a brief respite before studying for finals. Elizabeth took a deep breath and unzipped her backpack, taking out Armies’ shirt. _It still just barely smells like him_ , she thought. It had been over a month since she took this from him, she’d be getting her jacket from him when they met in California.

_When’s the last time I even saw this?_ Elizabeth wondered, the days had been a blur between exams and studying. Even Timothee had been incredibly busy, the play having its final performances just the weekend before. She had gone to see him and blown away by his performance, the monologues that he practiced in their room was nothing compared to what he did on stage. Elizabeth dragged her friends from class to the shows, she saw it twice. _He was so nervous_ , she remembered helping him run lines through the weeks before and he told her that he was excited but worried that he wouldn’t do well enough. It was his first show at NYU and if he messed up the thought that maybe they wouldn’t let him be in another show. Maybe he would find out that he wasn’t good enough to keep acting.

Elizabeth got out her phone.

Sorry I ran out so quickly, got to the airport, have a wonderful break. You killed it in DOAS this weekend! I’ll miss you.

_ Thanks Liz! I’ll miss you too :( _ _  sorry again about the shirt.  _

The shirt, Elizabeth furled her eyebrows. _It’s kind of odd that it was with Timmy’s things, and that he’s apologizing again._

She watched the people passing by through the airport for a few minutes, there were business men and women in suits hurrying to their gates, lots of other students rushing around with backpacks probably trying to make their way home for the holiday, and groups of tourists coming to spend the week in the city. She saw two men together holding hands, standing by the bathroom looking as though they were waiting for someone to come out.

_What if… it wasn’t an accident?_

She remembered the day in October, when she had gotten back from Boston, and Timothee fell asleep on her. The way he reacted. Then the next few weeks were a blur, she didn’t see him as much because he was wrapped up in practice for _Death of a Salesman_.

With everything going on, Elizabeth hadn’t had time to miss Armie and her family as much as she usually did. It hadn’t been easy to be away from them, but the last few weeks had been more bearable than the first few weeks, she had completely lost track of the shirt. 

_It’s probably just a coincidence,_ she thought, _but maybe I should test it out when I get back._  

 

**November 23 rd**

 

Timothee was sitting inside of a Starbucks by the window, waiting for his sister to get her Pumpkin Spice Latte that was about to stop being sold for the season. He wasn’t a fan of coffee, but enjoyed being with Pauline and especially enjoyed not being on campus for the rest of the week. He didn’t have to work for the next few days and could just enjoy his family.

It had been two days since classes ended and the entire NYU campus was empty, he stayed there the night that Liz left and then made his way to his family’s apartment. Timothee didn’t know how to feel about the apartment, it wasn’t the same one that he lived in before moving into the dorms. They sold their previous apartment to downsize from having to children, to one child still in the house, to having none.

His parents felt that having a dorm room was an important part of the college experience and didn’t want him to miss out on having fun in school. But Timothee still felt sadness when he brought a bag into what was a guest room in the apartment for him to stay in with Pauline. It felt like he didn’t have a place there anymore.

Timothee knew that he would always be welcome at his parents and even Pauline’s place when he needed somewhere to go. But this was the first time that Timothee felt like he was on his own. Many of his high school classmates were mated, his sister was mated, and obviously his parents were mated. He felt lonely. Especially since Elizabeth had left to go be with her family in California.

_God, that was so close_. He thought back to the day she left, when he was able to quickly find the shirt while trying to make it look like he didn’t know what she was talking about. _You have to be more careful, she’s going to think you’re creepy._  

Timothee didn’t plot to steal the shirt, he actually decided at first not to take it. The morning when he woke up on the couch cuddled up to Elizabeth was incredible. He had never felt that good in his life, it was like he had returned from a spa and had a shot of adrenaline at the same time. Even his play director and cast mates noticed that he was happier than usual at rehearsals that night. But he tried not to think the scent. 

The next few weeks were busy, Timothee went from classes to rehearsal to work to bed, and then repeated everything over again. He barely had time to see Elizabeth or his other friends because of the lack of spare time. Most of the students in the production were second years or older, he was one of the only freshman. He felt like he had to work harder to be just as good as the rest of them, he didn’t want to disappoint anyone or make the director feel like they had made a mistake in casting him.

It was hard to handle. Timothee started having trouble sleeping. He would be in bed, feel tired, but lay there for hours without anything happening. One night he thought back to the shirt, how easy it was to fall asleep with that scent surrounding him. The lack of sleep was starting to get to him. He didn't sleep that night, for the third night in a row. 

The next morning, Timothee laid in bed until Elizabeth left for her morning classes, and started to look through her things. _I am a horrible friend._ He paused for a moment. _Shouldn’t I just tell her?_ He looked over at her family photos, one of them recently having been taken in Boston. The two had talked about their families over the past few months. It was nice to talk to someone who was close with their siblings, many of Timothee’s classmates were thrilled to be far away from their own. She spoke about her younger sister who he very much wanted to meet, but also about her older brothers. One of them was a beta who had an omega boyfriend and the other was an alpha who was mated to a beta and had two children. They both lived in LA.

_No way._ He shook his head. _It doesn’t matter how good the scent is, I am not ruining our friendship because one of her brothers smells like heaven._ Especially considering, he thought, that it was probably her alpha brother who had children.

Beta scents tended to be calming, grounding, deep, and amazing for relaxing. Timothee really loved Elizabeth’s scent and had gotten used to it, it made him feel better. But sometimes it wasn’t enough. He needed something else. Omega scents were typically sweet, like freshly baked cookies or fruit, they always left you wanting more. Alphas in particular found omega scents to be arousing, especially if they were potentially compatible mates. Alpha scents, however, were powerful and strong. They were earthy, comforting, made you feel safe and protected. Similar to omega scents, alpha scents were quite arousing to omegas, and had a way of making both betas and omegas feel safe. Both alpha and omega scents were powerful, the beta scent was a counterbalance.

Timothee remembered again how quickly he was able to fall asleep the night that Elizabeth had worn that shirt. He looked on the side of her bed next to the wall, and saw a sleeve of a white shirt sticking out from under the bed. _It must have fallen there_. Before he had time to think about it he quickly grabbed the shirt, he made his way back over to his bed, got under the covers, turned the light off, and wrapped the shirt around his pillow. He took a deep breathe in and let the scent lull him to sleep for a few more hours before class.

Through the few weeks after, Timothee was able to hide the shirt from Elizabeth and use it to finally sleep through the night. As rehearsals for the show got more intense, and his stress levels got higher, he took the shirt with him to help keep calm during their breaks. It was incredible to have during the first few performances, it helped keep his nerves down, especially since he hadn’t seen Elizabeth as much as he used to. She never asked about the shirt and Timothee hadn’t noticed her looking for anything when they were in the room together.

He felt guilty, it wasn’t his shirt and he felt like he was doing something wrong. But it smelled so good, and it made him feel so good. _What a useful application of cognitive dissonance_ , he chuckled to himself. _I guess I am learning something in psychology 101._

“You don’t want a pumpkin spice latte Timmy?”

Pauline’s voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Timothee smirked, “I wouldn’t want to become a basic white girl.”

Pauline threw her straw wrapper at him, “You already are.”

Timothee stuck his tongue out at her.

Pauline rolled her eyes, “Really, that’s the best you can do? I would have thought an actor like you would have a wider variety of facial expressions than that of a 2 year old.”

“Wow Pauline, I missed you too. Tell me, how was London?” He bit out sarcastically.

She reached over to pat his head, “Thanks Timmy, it was great.”

“At least you were somewhere fun, I love New York but I feel like I’ve been stuck here for so long.”

“Maybe we could go somewhere in March, when you have spring break?”

“Really? Would you have time then?” Timothee got excited, he hadn’t done anything with Pauline in a while. Her job was exciting and he knew how hard she worked to get it, but it limited their time together.

“I think so, Abby and Sarah want to go on a vacation soon too, and the timing would work out well. We’ve been talking about going to Norway.”

“Spring break in Norway?”

“You wanted a vacation.”

“How are Abby and Sarah? I haven’t seen them in a while.” Timothee said sheepishly, it’s not that he didn’t like his sister’s mates, he just didn’t feel comfortable being with them when Pauline wasn’t around.

Pauline smiled softly, “they’re great, we really missed each other while I was in London, I wish they could have come with me.” She paused and slightly frowned. “Honestly Timmy it was rough sometimes, even though we mated a year ago, it was painful at some points to be away from them for that long.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Timothee stared at her coffee. _I wonder what that would feel like_. He had never seriously thought about mating, he was focused on acting and had never met anyone that he had an instant connection to. _Well, before this shirt situation started_. Timothee thought for a moment, _maybe I should ask her, I don’t have to tell her everything._

“Um, Pauline.” Timothee kept his eyes fixed on the coffee, he was trying to find some courage.

She looked worried, “Yeah?”

“Um, when you, when you first met Sarah and Abby, um, what, was it like?

He couldn’t look at her, she would know, he kept his head down, eye contact wasn’t important. Timothee could feel Pauline’s gaze heavy on his face, he knew that she knew something was going on, but he hoped that she would have the kindness to not pry until he was ready to talk.

“Oh, well, it was different for each of them. When I met Abby we had been out at the same club together with our separate friends, I had a few shots, was pretty drunk” Elizabeth laughed, Timothee found the courage to stop his staring contest with the table.

“My friends and I started dancing, her friends started dancing, and then I saw her and she saw me and we kept circling around each other for a little, before finally just dancing together. We ended up making out for the rest of the night against the back wall, our friends kept trying to pull us off of each other but it didn’t work.” She laughed. “Then after that night we started going out on dates and knew that we wanted to be together.”

“With Sarah, it was different. She sat in the front of this class that Abby and I took together, we both kept eyeing her without the other one knowing. Then one day, Abby broke down and told me that she couldn’t stop thinking about Sarah. It was such a relief for both of us, we hadn’t been certain that the other was interested in a triad. After class we asked Sarah if she wanted to grab lunch with us, she said yes, and then it just went from there. We got lucky.” Pauline smiled. “Now it’s been 4 years.”

Timothee smiled at his sister, _it was so easy for them._

“But I think you already knew most of that. What did you really want to know?” She looked at him with a puzzled look and he blushed before looking away.

“Um, what did they smell like?” He asked in a quiet voice.

Pauline was surprised, she didn’t think that Timothee was ever interested in having a mate or two, he didn’t show much interest in dating when he was in high school. Sure, he went out with a few people but it never last for more than two or three weeks.

“I don’t know that I’m the best person to ask about that. For me, I thought that Abby was beautiful and I was really drawn to her in the club, she smells like the ocean and that was enticing but it wasn’t what really drew me in. It’s calming and I appreciate having her there when I'm really wound up.” Pauline smirked a bit, “Sarah was different, we could both smell her scent in the class room we were in, it drove us crazy. Hers is like blueberries and lemon and cream. It was intense the first time I was able to smell her, I guess it drew both Abby and I in. But it was useful.”

Pauline could see that Timothee still looked troubled. 

“Timothee, scent is different for everyone, sometimes people are really affected by others and sometimes it’s not important in a relationship. Sure, most people are attracted to others whose smell they prefer but if you’re worried about some-”

“No, no-no, that’s not it.” Timothee quickly jumped in.

Pauline was confused, _what’s going on with you Timmy?_

The two were silent.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”

He looked at her, “There’s this… person. Their scent, it drives me crazy. The first time I smelled it, I almost fell to my knees.”

Pauline was shocked, “Wow, that doesn’t happen very often.”

Timothee looked sad, “I know”.

“You don’t look very happy though.” She mused.

He swallowed. “I don’t think this is a person I can have.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Reasons, I don’t want to explain, it’s complicated.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He looked out the window.

“It sounds like this person affects you in a way you don’t understand, and I have to say I’m surprised Timmy, there aren’t a lot of people that catch your interest. If you truly don’t think that this person would be interested in you, then I’m so sorry, that sounds rough. Just know that there are a lot of people out there, one’s you’ve never met that would love to be with you one day. Don’t feel like this is the only person that would work. No matter how amazing they smell.” She smiled at him.

“I really missed you Pauley.” He smiled.

“Missed you too lil’ Timmy Tim.”

His eyes went wide. “Seriously? We were having a nice moment.”

Pauline laughed and stood up, offering her hand out to her little brother. “Come on, let’s go get you a blanket scarf so you don’t steal one of mine this year. It’ll be my early Christmas present.”

Timothee smirked, _oh, I’m still stealing one of yours._

**November 25 th **

 

_“Are you sure you have to go back tomorrow” Armie and Elizabeth were lying in bed, he was wrapped around her back curling her against his chest._

_“I do.” She said quietly. “But we have all night and the morning before I leave.”_

_“No, stay, mine,” he kissed the back of her neck and nuzzled his face there. She laughed._

_“It’s been tough, but I’m so happy that we had these few days.”_

_Thanksgiving had been fun this year, Elizabeth mused that it was probably because it was the first time she hadn’t been with her parents for the fall. Everything had a sense of familiarity but things were different, she had to catch up with her family’s lives and what had changed. Her brothers came back for the holiday and Catherine had spent half of the time wrapped around her, the other half of the time Armie was wrapped around her._

_This was also the first year that Armies’ parents didn’t host a thanksgiving, partly due to being in the Caribbean and partly due to their unfavorable attitudes towards Armies’ choice of being an actor. They hadn’t completely disowned him, but he didn’t know where he stood in his parents eyes anymore._

_“I still can’t believe you were on Desperate Housewives!” She laughed._

_“I think they just wanted me for my body.” He mused._

_Elizabeth turned around to face him, “I can see why.” She kissed him._

_He drew her in closer, “Would it surprise you that I got another role, as Abercrombie boy?”_

_She trailed her fingers over his abs. “Should I start calling you Abercrombie boy now?” She asked very seriously._

_“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”_

_“You know you’re an amazing actor, right?”_

_“I like to tell myself that every morning in the mirror.”_

_“No, Armie, seriously. You’re good, these are just small roles, you’ll work your way up.”_

_He smiled at her, “it’s nice to hear someone say that.”_

_“It’s true.”_

_He kissed her forehead and closed his eyes._

_“I love you, Liz.”_

_“Love you too.” Elizabeth thought for a moment. It was time, she had put it off long enough._

_“Hey.”_

_Armie cracked an eye open._

_“Yeah?”_

_“I need to ask a question, but, you can’t ask me why I’m asking or anything else about it, OK?”_

_He looked at her with a worried expression, “Is everything ok?”_

_“Everything’s great, really, I don’t want you to worry. I just.”_

_She took a breath._

_“Have you ever, thought about anyone else?”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I mean, some people have triad relationships, some have two people, I know it just depends.”_

_“Ok.”_

_“What do you think about that?” She looked at him with a nervous expression._

_“I guess we’ve never talked about it before, it’s always been just you and me.” Armie lifted himself up on his elbow and looked down at her, running his thumb across her cheek._

_“I’ve never really thought about another person, I wouldn’t be opposed if we both found someone that we were interested in. But Liz, I have zero plans of ever leaving you, you know that right?”_

_Elizabeth felt guilty, how could she have doubted him?  She knew that her own insecurities were playing the main role in this questioning. It was hard, Armie was everything she ever dreamed of in a mate, he was a 6’5 beautiful man who was kind and fun and sometimes took way too many risks, but she got past that. It  wasn't out of the question for someone else to want him just as badly as she wanted him._

_“Liz, what are you thinking?” He whispered._

_She smiled at him. “Sometimes I wonder how I ever got so lucky. I would never leave you either.”_

_She took his hand in hers and brought the back of it to her lips. Then she pulled him down on top of her and threaded her arms behind his back. She felt him spread his knees on either side her waist as he moved his lips against hers. She could feel his hardness against her stomach and he grinded against her and she smiled._

_“Handcuffs?”_

_“Handcuffs.”_

 

_\---_

 

Elizabeth thought about the day before, as she sat on the bus taking her back to NYU’s campus. She wasn’t sure what to think about the situation, she had an amazing mate to be that she knew was the right decision. But she also had a roommate who didn’t know that he may be the perfect missing piece to their relationship. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t know what she wanted, just that there were a lot of possibilities.

_I don’t know what to do_. She had considered lots of options, but none of them felt right. Finals were in three weeks, she had so much studying to do before the end of the semester exams and didn’t know how to juggle school with this growing relationship conundrum.

_Maybe I shouldn’t do anything right now._ The bus stopped near her dorm, Elizabeth lugged her suitcase off of the ride and headed towards her room. Campus was started to bustle with students coming back from the break. She waved to a few of her friends from her journalism classes and headed up the stairs of her residence hall. Christmas decorations had popped up everywhere, and she grinned at the Hanukah decorations that people had put up next to them.

When she got to her room, she opened the door and was surprised to see Timothee passed out on her bed, with one of her pillows pressed against his face. She laughed and slammed the door behind her, startling him as he jerked up.

“Why, Lizzy…” He moaned.

“Did you even leave this room during the break?”

“Of course I did, I just got back a few hours ago. “ He mumbled back down into the pillow.

“Is your bed not working?” She teased him, he slowly crawled off the bed and made his way sleepily towards her, wrapping his arms around her.

“I’m not a bed either.”

“Shhhhh, just pretend.” He mumbled into her beck.

“I guess I’ll just unpack later.” She said.

Elizabeth was tired, she could never sleep on planes. She managed to unwrap Timothee from her so she could take her jacket off, before slipping out of her jeans and sweater. She got into her bed with him and they cuddled up together, before getting some sleep before the last few weeks of the semester took over their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment.


	5. December 20th, December 23rd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has sex in it, the rating has changed to mature instead of teen. It takes place in the December 23rd section and isn't long.

**Chapter 4**

 

**December 20 th**

 

“We made it!” Elizabeth tapped her cup against Timothee’s and drank the rest of the wine. She laughed as he mumbled something to himself and then took another sip.

“You’re so drunk Timmy.” She slurred and leaned against the couch behind her.

“Told you,” he paused, “I could drink it all.”

“We drank it all.” She looked at the huge and empty wine bottle in front of them.

“Shut up, you’re drunk too.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” She giggled.

“How fast is the room supposed to be spinning?” Timothee fell sideways onto the floor where he was sitting against some pillows.

“I don’t know anymore.” She couldn’t stop laughing, it was amazing to be stress free after the semester was over. Her last final was that morning and her plane for LA left the next afternoon. The month had flown by and she couldn’t believe that she was able to go back home so quickly.

“Hey Lizzy, Liiiizzzzyyyyyy.” Timothee was struggling to get up off of the floor, Elizabeth pulled him up and leaned him against her as they both tried to stay upright.

“If you remember anything in the morning, I’ll be shocked.” She said, combing her fingers through his hair.

“Hey, hey, I’ve got an idea.” He shouted.

Elizabeth laughed, “Oh my god, what?”

“Let’s play truth or dare!” She rolled her eyes.

“Of course drunk Timmy wants to play truth or dare.” _Drunk Timmy always wanted to play truth or dare._

“Hey” he looked straight into her eyes, for a moment she thought that he might have sobered up. Then he giggled, “Truth or dare is the best game ever.”

Elizabeth didn’t know if she should be concerned or laugh, the alcohol in her system said laugh, so she went along with him.

“Fine, you go first.” She surrendered.

“Ok,” Timothee leaned away from her and against the couch, barely able to hold himself up.

“Truth or dare Lizzzy?” He asked.

“Truth.” Elizabeth moved so she was leaning up against the couch next to him, she didn’t want him to get hurt, he could get reckless when drunk.

“What’s the farthest you’ve ever gone with someone?” Timothee giggled and Elizabeth rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

“I’ve had sex Timmy.”

“Yeah, but, what’s like, the kinkiest thing you’ve done?” He looked at her with pleading eyes.

“That’s a second question.”

He pouted.

“Please?”

She couldn’t resist his pout. “I’ve dabbled in bondage.”

He looked like he won the lottery, “What! No? Really!” He was like a small puppy.

“Yes, Timmy. It’s fun, you should try it sometime.” She winked at him.

Timothee blushed and held his head in his hands, swaying to the side. “Ok Lizzy, it’s your turn.”

Elizabeth couldn’t stop smiling, he was adorable.

“Truth or dare, Timmy?”

“Dare!” He smiled widely at her, he was way too excited about this dare. _There’s no way he’s capable of standing at this point._ She mused.  

“I dare you to tell me something you’ve never told anyone in your life.”

Timothee’s cheeks turned redder than they already were, he buried his face into the pillow.

“Why do you keep hiding from me?” She scooted towards him and put her hand on his chin, turning it towards her.

He mumbled, “because I don’t know if I should tell you.”

“What?” Elizabeth asked, confused.

Timothee sat up slowly, using her arm to lift him up.

“Promise you won’t be mad?”

“Promise.” She said, hugging him into her and leaning back against the couch, her lap full of the lanky omega.

“Um, I have this secret, and I don’t know what will happen if I tell you. Please don’t be mad at me Lizzy.” He hugged her arm into his chest.

Elizabeth had absolutely no idea what was going on, “Timmy, don’t worry, I’m not going to be mad.”

“Promise?” Timmy asked again.

Elizabeth was getting concerned, “Timmy, I absolutely, 100% promise you that I will not be mad. Just tell me what it is.”

At first, she didn’t think he was going to say anything, the silence lasted for a few moments.

“There’s this black shirt that I have, um, it’s not mine, it’s yours.” He said quietly.

“What?” Elizabeth said.

“It’s your shirt, I mean, it’s not yours I think, it doesn’t smell like you.”

_Oh,_ Elizabeth thought, _that’s where it went, that makes sense._ She had brought back a few shirts that belonged to Armie, and a pair of boxers to wear at night. One of the shirts had gone missing, and though she didn’t know where it went, she had a feeling that Timothee had taken it. After the white shirt had disappeared in November, she purposefully brought back a few articles of clothing to make sure that there was enough Armie to go around their dorm room. _Last time definitely wasn’t a coincidence then._

“Why do you have it?” She asked gently.

He was quiet. “It smells good?”

“Yeah?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’s OK Timmy, I don’t mind.”

“You’re not mad?” He was starting to get heavier, she shifted them onto the couch so they were laying down.

“No, I had a feeling that you might have it.” She admitted.

“Won’t your brother be mad?”

_What?_ She thought, that makes no sense.

Timothee giggled, “He’s going to be so mad, I can’t be a homewrecker Lizzy, I have to forget about it.”

“You know, I don’t feel like unpacking that tonight.”

They both enjoyed the silence for a moment, silence and the faint bass of the dorm parties happening around them. It was surprisingly soothing, the sound of everyone celebrating the end of finals. In a short while, they would be halfway done with their first year of college. She felt Timothee shiver on top of her so she pulled the blanket on the back of the couch down to rest on top of them and got settled in to sleep for the night.

“Truth or dare Lizzy.” Timmy murmured, almost asleep against her chest.

“Truth” She said, starting to fall asleep.

“Did you pack already?” He nuzzled her chest and she felt his breathing slow down.

_Fuck_ .

 

\---

 

The next morning, Elizabeth woke up to Timothee scrambling off of her chest to run out of the room. She sat up, startled, and watched him run down the hallway.

Her head hurt, and she felt dehydrated, _but there’s no way that I feel worse than he does_. She chucked, and pulled the blanket off of her, looking around for a cup to get water. Elizabeth found a spare bottle of water and then stretched a little before getting changed. She pulled her suitcase out from under her bed and started to grab some clothes for the warmer climate in LA. _I hate myself for doing this again_ , she thought.

Timothee groggily made his way back into the room, looked at Elizabeth with confusion, and then flopped down onto his bed groaning.

“Truth or dare Timmy?” Elizabeth smiled at him and shouted.

He pulled the covers over his head, “No, why, you’re evil.”

She laughed, “What’s the last thing you remember?” _there it is_ , she found her swimsuit in the back of her top drawer and threw it into the suitcase.

“Did we ever finish watching Finding Nemo?” His voice was muffled under the covers.

Elizabeth stopped and tried to hold in her laughter, she was able to control herself for a minute before she couldn’t contain it.

“Oh no, what happened?” He asked with reservation.

“Let’s just say that we stayed up for a while after that.”

He groaned and burrowed deeper into the covers.

Elizabeth went over to his bed and sat down, trying to pull the covers back, “Aw, baby’s first blackout?” she teased.

“Yeah.” He buried his face into his pillow.

“Oh, it’s Ok Timmy, just don’t drink wine for a few months, or maybe alcohol in general.”

She looked at him, and then leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

“I’m going to head out to the airport early and try to get a flight sooner, you sleep, ok?” She stood up, she didn’t want to keep him awake when he looked so tired and hungover.

“No, stay Lizzy.” He turned and grabbed her hand. She smiled down at him, “Is this going to happen every time?”

“Every time you don’t take me with you.”

She could feel her heart break a little bit. Elizabeth climbed into bed with him and squeezed him close to her. “Have a wonderful break Timmy. Take my pillow with you to your parents ok?” He groaned, but settled against her. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep again.

Elizabeth got up and put her pillow in his arms, he hugged it against himself and rolled over, she smiled. Before she left the room, she finished packing everything she needed and zipped up her suitcase. Then she grabbed one of his sweaters out of his laundry pile, stuffed it into her backpack, and made her way to the airport.

On the bus, she got out the sweater, lifted it to her nose, she breathed in the scent and relaxed. _It’s time._

 

 

**December 23 th**

Elizabeth sat in her family’s living room, slowly eating a strawberry from the platter of food on the coffee table. Armie sat on the other side of the room, watching her. She knew that he was curious about what she was thinking, she hadn’t been a good girlfriend since she got back.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to Armie, she wanted to talk to him so badly. But she didn’t know if she was ready to talk to him about Timothee yet, and if she didn’t mention him, she felt like she was lying.

She looked up, and Armie caught her eye, _he looks so sad_ , she thought. Elizabeth couldn’t do this anymore, she stood up and made her way to her boyfriend. He looked surprised, but then started towards the staircase, she followed upstairs.

Armie pulled Liz into her bedroom, they were at her parents’ house in LA. She had gotten back to California two days before and was excited to have almost two weeks to spend with her family and Armie. The atmosphere at his parents’ house was tense, so he packed a bag and came to stay with her for the holidays.

“What’s going on Liz, you’ve been acting weird all day.” Armie looked at her, worried and a little frustrated. “You’ve been avoiding me, did I do something?”

“No!” Elizabeth said quickly.

“Then what is it? It’s not just today either, you’ve been different even since you came back for the holidays.” Armie sat and nervously picked at the bedding. “Last time we were together, you talked about other people, and now, what’s going on?”

_Oh_ , she thought, _I’m so stupid._

Elizabeth went over to the bed, straddled his legs, and hugged him.

“Nothing’s wrong Armie, I promise.” She pulled back, looked him in the eyes, and rested her hands on his cheeks. “I love you, nothing’s wrong.”

Armie sighed and looked down.

“This distance, Liz, it’s been so hard. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, so much more than I can describe. I promise that this has nothing to do with you.” She frowned.

“I just get scared sometimes that you’re going to meet someone there or you’ll realize that you haven’t seen enough of the world or you’ll meet a lot of really cool smart people and, it’ll change the way you feel about me.”

“What?”

“It’s not that hard to imagine.”

“What are you talking about? How could I ever not want to be with you Armie? You’re everything I have ever wanted, I love you so much. Being away from you, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

She kissed him softly.

“Then what’s different?” He looked less nervous.

She sighed, “I don’t know how to explain. Actually, it has everything to do with you, just not the way you think. There’s something, someone we need to talk about.”

Elizabeth got off the bed, and walked over to her backpack, she unzipped the bigger pouch, and took out a black sweater.

Armie had no idea what was happening, he didn’t know what to think. She came back over and sat next to them.

“I’ll explain everything, I promise. But first, just smell this.”

He looked at her incredulously. “What?”

“Don’t ask yet, just smell it.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Ok,” and lifted the shirt up to his nose.

Elizabeth didn’t know what to expect, she didn’t know what she wanted to happen. She just knew that this needed to happen.

All Armie knew what that he had never smelled something as incredible as the sweater. It was like chocolate, and strawberries, and vanilla. He couldn’t get enough. Armie closed his eyes and brought it closer, he was floating, everything was hazy. It was so sweet, he growled quietly into the fabric.

“Liz, what, what is this?” He mumbled into the sweater.

He started to feel warm, the scent was so sweet, so good, so mouthwatering. He noticed his pants starting to get tighter.

“Wha-what’s happening?” But he couldn’t take the sweater away, it was the last thing he wanted to do.

Elizabeth stare at him with wide eyes, _oh wow_.  He looked like he was high, nuzzling into the sweater and dropped down onto his elbow on his back. Armie left out another growl and then moaned, using his other hand to palm at the zipper of his jeans. He fumbled with the zipper before Elizabeth intervened.

She unzipped his jeans and helped him pull his pants down to his knees before he kicked them off.

“Armie, are you ok?” She asked worriedly.

He nodded, and took a few deep breaths, still unable to stop taking in the sweaters scent. “What is this?” He asked brokenly.

“I think, it could be our omega.”

He let out a growl, “Fuck, Liz, I can’t, I can’t talk about this right now, help me?”

She looked down at his briefs, his hard cock noticeably sticking out and his chest was heaving. Elizabeth smirked and straddled his legs like before, but for an entirely different purpose this time.

“How does it smell Armie, tell me?” She said and ran her hand over his cock.

He moaned and leaned his head back, feeling her slide her fingers up and down, his hips bucked up to meet her hand. He took another inhale.

“So good, Liz,” He growled. “Perfect.” She sat up on her knees and slowly pulled his briefs down, then reached over to her nightstand, pulled the drawer open, and got a bottle of lube out.

“Please, Liz.” He panted, “don’t tease.”

She smiled at him before coming back down and pulled the sweater away from his face, setting it next to their hips “kiss me?”

Armie surged forward and crashed his lips into hers, wrapping his arms around her back while Elizabeth uncapped the bottle, and let the lube fall into her palm, before wrapping her hand around his cock. He moaned into her mouth, pulled off, and then made his way down her neck, sucking and biting over the left side.

Elizabeth gasped, and gripped the base of his cock harder, stroking faster. His hips rocked against hers and they both moaned, the feeling was so intense, he had only felt this way a few times before.

“God Liz, missed this so much” he just barely made out, he hadn’t felt this aroused in months. Armie didn’t know how long he was going to last.

Elizabeth kissed him hard, and then twisted her wrist, moving faster.

“I don’t think I’m going to last.”

“Cum, Armie,” she whispered.

For a moment, he was still, and then everything blurred and he felt white hot pleasure bursting through him. He came all over Elizabeth’s hand, and the sweater next to them. Armie was breathing heavy while he came down from the high.

After a moment, Elizabeth picked up the sweater and brought it to her nose, she smelled the garment, the mix of both Armie and Timothee’s scents together. She moaned loudly, it was heavenly. Chocolate, marshmallows, strawberries, campfire, the perfect scent.

Elizabeth rocked her hips against her boyfriends. He watched her move above him with intense eyes, and flipped them over so that she was on her back.

Armie unbuttoned her shirt, unclasped the back of her bra, and threw it off of the bed, He leaned down and took her nipple into his mouth. She moaned and brought her fingers to his hair. “Armie,” she moaned, he growled and moved to the other nipple. She pressed her hips against the leg that was held against her core, rocking up faster as he sucked on her breast.

Armie trailed kisses down her abdomen, biting and sucking his way down before reaching her pussy. He looked at her while licking slowly at her clit, she shuddered below him.

“Feel good Liz?” He teased.

“Armie,” she barely made out. He stopped licking and used his finger to circle around the outside of her pussy.

“What?” He grinned with a dominant look in his eyes, “who am I?”

“Alpha,” she whimpered out, pressing her head into the pillow as he slid a finger into her heat. He slowly pushed the finger in and out, feeling himself grow hard again.

“Alpha, please,” she whined, pushing back into his hand. Armie fingered her while he reached over into the dresser drawer and found the condoms, then he brought up his hand that had just been inside her, looked her in the eye and licked the wetness off of his fingers.

Elizabeth moaned, “Please Amie, please alpha.” He quickly slid the condom on before pressing himself into his beta.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he thrust. They both moaned, Armie kissed her fast and hard while fucking deep into her.

“Liz, oh god, feels so good, missed you.” He could barely get the words out.

Elizabeth couldn’t do anything except moan and whine with every thrust, she was already so close, she felt like her body was out of control. _Timmy, what are you doing to us?_ She thought.

“Armie!” She screamed as she came, walls closing tightly around her alphas cock, Armie thrust a few more times before he growled as he came inside of her and finally collapsed on top of her.

They both lied there, panting and rocking their hips as their orgasms subsided.

“That was...” Armie whispered.

“Really fast.” Elizabeth laughed. He laughed before kissing her.

Elizabeth thought about Timothee for a moment, then then held the sweater up to both of their faces and closed her eyes, taking in the scent.

“Wow,” she said, feeling a faint arousal tickling her core again.

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Armie laughed and pushed the sweater back down, “I need a break.”

Elizabeth smiled, then pushed Armie over onto his side and snuggled against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed into her hair.

“Missed you Liz.”

“Missed you too.”

“Guess we have a lot to talk about?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s their name?”

“Timothee.”

 


	6. January 2nd, January 5th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want you all to know that I didn’t intend for there to be so much sexual content in this story. I still don’t know how we’ve gotten here. There's no sex in the next chapter. 
> 
> Thank you for all of the support, I see every comment, kudo, subscription, and bookmark! I really appreciate it and I’m so glad that you are enjoying this. It has been so much fun to write, we’re halfway there!

**January 2 nd**

The snow was falling lightly in New York.  Timothee was in his parent’s apartment, wrapped up in the blankets of the guest bed, feeling tired as he waited for his heat to finally end. It was a longer heat than usual, typically they would end after one or two days, but he was finishing out the fourth day and finally just starting to feel normal again. He missed his friends New Year’s Eve party for the first time in six years.

 _Sometimes I hate my body_ , he burrowed into the covers deeper, stretching his legs out long before curling them back into a tight ball. He hugged Elizabeth’s pillow into his chest tightly.  To Timothee, the pillow was an amazing comfort to have during his heat, it calmed him down and made things less intense, especially when all his body wanted was a knot from an alpha. He whimpered, trying not to think about it, he didn’t want to get aroused and have to figure out where he put his knotting dildo.  

He glanced at the corner of the room, where he had thrown the black shirt that came from Elizabeth. It made him feel equally better and worse, the scent satisfied his need to be near an alpha but once his body thought that an alpha was there, it was painful when the ‘alpha’ didn’t enter him.

Real unsuppressed heats were supposed to be amazing when you had an alpha mate, having a beta mate helped but it didn’t quite satisfy the need an omega felt during heat. If he had an alpha mate someday, then he would be able to come off of heat suppressants. Even as an omega, he wasn’t able to get pregnant since he was male, Timothee never thought it was fair that he had heats that wouldn’t get him anything except for pain and pleasure.

Timothee wished that he could have someone there with him, when his heats started he was around twelve years old, and his mother would be there with him. As a beta, it was calming for her to be there, but eventually he felt uncomfortable having his mother there when he went through heat. Pauline and his dad were out of the question, having any alpha there who wasn’t going to be entering him would just be torture to his body.

 _But there is an alpha I want here._ He eyed the shirt again, then forced himself to look away and roll over to the other side of the bed. _No_ , he thought.

Sometimes he couldn’t believe the bad luck he bad, he was incredibly attracted to his roommate’s brother, who was mated and had two children. _He already has an omega, they don’t need another._ He didn’t understand, _why would the universe do this, why does he smell so good if I can’t have him._ He groaned again and inhaled the scent of the pillow.

 _Lizzy,_ he thought, _I don’t know why that’s fair either, why would I be so attracted to a brother and sister when I could never have them both?_

**January 5 th **

Elizabeth started heading back to New York the morning of January 5th.

“I can’t get there until your spring break, I’m filming here in LA until then. But I’ll be there soon.”

“I’m so excited that you’re coming to New York, we’ll have a whole week together there.” Elizabeth and Armie were at McDonalds in the airport, waiting until the moment that she had to board a plane to get back to school. It was 5am and too early, but it was the cheapest flight available.

“I guess we’ll see what happens.” He said as he brought up a sausage biscuit to his mouth.  

“You know, it doesn’t matter what happens, right? If you like him that’s great, but if not then we’ll figure it out. He doesn’t know about you.” Elizabeth bit her lip.

“He doesn’t know about me?” Armie looked confused.

She looked apologetic. “You didn’t come up very much, and when I tried to talk about you, it was hard, I usually started crying.”

He reached over and took her hand, “I understand.”

“But things will change now.” She said seriously, “I’m going to talk to Timmy. If he’s open then maybe we can skype together, you’re right, he needs to know.”

“Yeah,” Armie sighed, “Especially after the sweater incident.” He thought back to the afternoon that Elizabeth brought him that sweater, they were lucky he had just gone through rut a month prior, otherwise it probably would have set him off. _Hell, it almost did again_ , he mused. His previous rut had been difficult, it was the first one that Elizabeth hadn’t helped him through. They were always challenging, growing a knot was painful when he wasn’t able to penetrate someone else, the omega fleshlight he had made it more bearable. The two had attempted to knot together before, but a betas body wasn’t made to take a knot, and it was too painful for her. Elizabeth kept him company and the rut suppressants took the edge off, but he was happy that ruts only happened two times a year.

“Hey, don’t get hard in the airport.” Elizabeth snapped him out of the daydream, he smirked at her, “Don’t want to have airport bathroom sex?”

“It’s too early.” She moaned and finished her hashbrown. “Timmy and I really need to talk, I think he thinks that your shirts belonged to my brother.”

“What?” Armie laughed, “Why would he think that?”

“I don’t know, he mentioned it when he was drunk so it could be nothing. He doesn’t know you and I’ve talked to him about John and Joseph. He knew I went with them on vacation,” Elizabeth laughed she felt bad, she had caused him roommate so much inner turmoil without realizing it. “We have a lot to talk about.” She mused.

Armie didn’t know how to feel about the situation, he was excited that Elizabeth had found someone that she really loved, and knew that there wasn’t a universe in existence where he wouldn’t want to be with her. _What if he doesn’t like me?_ He thought, _what if we don’t get along at all?_ Armie knew that there was a low chance of that happening, their scents were too compatible. He was trying to be as calm as possible, but he was scared. They were together in New York, while he was on the other side of the country in L.A.

Elizabeth looked at her watch, “I should get going,” she frowned and look at him.

He gave a sad smile, “This is never going to get easier.” Armie stood up and walked with her to security. Then he cupped her cheek and kissed her, “Bye, beautiful.”

She beamed at him, then leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Bye, alpha.” She kissed his lips and then the side of his throat and walked away. Elizabeth looked back after a few moments and laughed at the stunned and hungry look on her boyfriend’s face. She smirked and went through security.

When Elizabeth reached her gate she got out her phone, there was a text from Armie.

_ You know I can still punish you over skype, right? _

I wouldn’t have it any other way ;)

 

\---

 

Five hours later, Elizabeth made her way to her dorm, narrowly avoiding sliding on the icy sidewalk. The dorms were still empty as classes for the spring semester didn’t begin until Tuesday. Luckily the residence halls re-opened a few days before classes began. She wanted to get used to being back in New York before the workload for new classes overwhelmed her.

She unlocked the door and lugged her suitcase in behind her, throwing it up on her bed. _I love getting to do laundry at my parents’ house for free._ All of her clothes were clean, it was easy for Elizabeth to put away the things that she had taken, it only took a few minutes. She grabbed Timothee’s sweater out of the bottom of her backpack, and threw it onto his bed. Then, her suitcase was put back into its usual space hidden under the bed. She took a moment to look out the window, enjoying the bright afternoon light coming through. _It looks like I never left_ , she thought before making her way to her closet.

 _I should probably clean this out_ , she started rummaging through the pile of clothes that had somehow made its way into the corner. She found a few pencils, lots of dust, and other random items, Elizabeth frowned at how dirty she had allowed it to become. _It’s crazy how big these closets are,_ she was surprised at the space they got in a freshman dorm at NYU. Some of Elizabeth’s friends at other colleges nearby had to share a small closet with their roommate, or they had a tiny wardrobe to host all of their belongings.

About fifteen minutes later, she heard the door open, but couldn’t see out into the room. Elizabeth was about to greet her roommate, but then she heard him talking on the phone.

“Yes, I made it back OK mom.”

There was a pause and she heard him drop something onto the floor, and then flop onto his bed.

“It’s been days since my heat ended, I’m fine, it’s over, I promise.” He groaned into the phone. “No one tried to defile me on the subway.”

For a moment Elizabeth thought about coming out of the closet or saying something so that he knew she was there.

“No, she’s not here, I don’t think she gets back until tomorrow.”

 _Shit,_ she thought. _Now it’s weird._

“Um, listen mom, I have to go.” Timothee suddenly said in a strained voice.

There was silence for a moment, she couldn’t make out what his mom said on the other line. “I will, love you too mom.” He hung up the phone, sounding like he was in a hurry.

Elizabeth had no idea what was happening, _is he ok?_ She thought and tried to hear what was going on. She heard shuffling and the sound of him unzipping something. Then the sound of him unzipping something else and moving around his bed. The movements sounded hurried and rough. _What is going on?_

“Fuck,” she hear him moan. There were more shifting noises and moaning before she realized what was happening.

 _Oh my god, is he masturbating?_ She thought with sudden horror. Elizabeth slowly and quietly inched herself closer to the edge of the closet door. She found a little gap in where she was able to look out and see the bottom half of him and the bed.

Timothee had his jeans around his ankles, his hand around his cock, jerking quickly and covering his mouth with his other hand, stifling his moans. After a few minutes, he rolled over and reached down under his bed. Elizabeth jerked away from the gap, frightened that he would notice her there. She realized that she was softly panting from exhilaration, _am I enjoying this?_

 _What would Armie say now that I’ve become a voyeur? S_ he clapped her hand over her mouth to stop her laughs from escaping. _He’d probably love it._

With as little noise as possible, she shifted back over so she could see what was happening, a sudden rush of arousal flooded through her as she watched Timothee drip lube all over a dildo, _a big dildo,_ she watched with wide eyes _._ He circled it around his hole for a few moments before slowly pushing it in.

Elizabeth could feel herself getting wet, and a soft moan came out of her mouth, luckily at the same time Timothee moaned. She looked down and found a sweater, putting it over her mouth to muffle the noises.

Timothee’s thrusts picked up, getting faster and harder, and it only took a few more moments before he had forgotten all about hiding his sounds, moaning loudly on his bed.

Elizabeth didn’t know he could sound so sexy, she hadn’t thought about her roommate in a sexual context before this moment. _How would he sound with Armie’s cock in him instead of that toy?_ She moaned at the thought and tried to keep still, even though this was one of the most erotic things she had ever witnessed.

The moaning got louder, and higher pitched, he sounded like he was getting close. _Thank god, I don’t know how much longer I can take this_. It was getting difficult to sit there and no do anything, she thought about coming out and taking the dildo, fucking him harder and faster than he could do it himself and making him come over and over again. She thought about teasing him with it, making him whine and squirm, holding him down and-

“Ahh!” Timothee shouted, she could see his hips still and he went boneless against the bed. Elizabeth was still for what felt like an eternity, she didn’t hear any movement coming from outside of the closet. She took a deep breath and counted to sixty, calming herself down and willing her arousal to go down. Then she cautiously moved her head out of the closet to look at Timothee and the bed.

He would have looked like he was sleeping if it wasn’t for his pants pulled down and cum all over his stomach. The dildo was still inside of him and he was breathing deeply. Elizabeth was stunned, _he must have passed out_ , she thought hungrily. _Down girl,_ she had to get ahold of herself.

Then she saw it.

The sweater that she had taken to LA, the one that she had given Armie, it was in Timothee’s hand, half covering his face.

 _The one that Armie came on_ , Elizabeth shivered, _but we washed everything._

She tip-toed over to the bed and inspected the sweater, not daring to remove it from the omegas hand. Elizabeth breathed in and stilled, _I guess we didn’t wash everything_.

The mixed scents of Armie and Timothee’s cum was too much for Elizabeth, she quickly made her way out of the room and down to the bathroom before locking the door and reaching her hand down her jeans.

_What just happened?_


	7. February 6th, February 8th, February 9th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be able to update tomorrow (or I guess today now 5/17) so I'm updating twice tonight. I'll update again on 5/18.

**February 6 th**

 

“You still haven’t talked to him!” Armie was livid. “Liz, I’m coming in a month.”

“Month and a half,” She mumbled.

“It’s not funny.”

“Ok, it’s only a little my fault. He was cast as Hamlet in Hamlet.” She explained, “He’s got rehearsals almost every single night of the week and then he’s been sleeping and working on the weekends to make up for it. I’ve barely seen him. It’s Thursday night, and he probably won’t even be back here until midnight. ” She sounded sad. “On top of that, he’s incredibly stressed because he got the lead role as a freshman and we spend most of our time together cuddling so he calms down.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.” He paused.

“Still, he’s going to find out eventually, it’s important that he finds out from you.” Armie said. “I don’t want to show up in March and have him not know who I am.”

“I know,” Elizabeth said.

“What’s the real reason?” He always knew when something was wrong with her, she sighed. She had waited so long to tell him.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“Liz,” he said softly.

She looked at him.

“I’m scared Armie.”

“I’m scared too.” He said.

“What? What are you scared of?” She was surprised.

“You two, all the way on the other side of the country, away from me, I get scared sometimes that you’ll decide I’m not necessary when you finally get together.” Armie realized that it felt nice to share how he was feeling with Elizabeth, instead of keeping it all inside.

“That’s never going to happen.” She looked at him for a moment. “I get scared that maybe once you have him, you two will decide that you don’t need me anymore, because I’m just a beta.”

He looked shocked, “Just a beta?”

“Yeah.” She felt small.

“It wouldn’t matter what your dynamic is Elizabeth, you’re amazing, loving, strong, everything I’ve ever wanted in a mate. Being a beta, you have so much power, you keep me calm, and you help me see reason when my stupid alpha hormones are going haywire. You’ve never been ‘just a beta’ Liz.”

Elizabeth felt her eyes get wet, “I don’t know why I’ve felt so insecure lately, Armie, I know that you love me, and I love you so much. I’m so sorry.”

She saw him laugh and then wipe his eyes, “I’d be lying if I said it was just you Liz, so much has changed even though we’re still the same. You being so far away, it’s been harder than I even imagined, and I’m so proud of you for following your dreams.”

“You’ve been doing great too.” She smiled at him. “I promise, by the end of the week I’ll tell him, I don’t know when but I’ll do it.”

“We’re ready for this Liz.” Armie smiled.

“We are.”

“Stop making me cry.”

 

**February 8 th **

“Happy birthday Lizzy!” Timothee exclaimed, pulling a New York style cheesecake out of their refrigerator. In a bag next to the fridge, he pulled out a can of cherry pie filling and opened it, bringing the food, plates, and forks to the couch.

“You got my favorite!” Elizabeth exclaimed, taking the cheesecake, and kissing him on the cheek.

He blushed, looking at the cheesecake and then took a bite. It was hard for him to think that it had been six months that they knew each other. Recently they hadn’t been able to hang out as much, his play rehearsals had taken over his life.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.” He pouted, “I’ve missed talking to you.”

Elizabeth smiled, “I’m so proud that you got that part, it’s huge! I understand that it’s taking up so much of your life.”

“Yeah but, I haven’t been able to hang out with you as much.”

She brought her hand to his chin and looked at him, “We’ll have plenty of time, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely.”

“How do we still have room for cheesecake?” Timothee groaned.

They had been out for hours with friends, eating dinner, running around the city, eating cake, and now back at their dorm eating cheesecake. Elizabeth’s journalism friends and Timothee’s theatre friends got along well, and their little clique of freshman was close. They went to dinner in the village before taking a train to the Staten Island ferry, where they rode it around so Elizabeth could see the statue of liberty. The first time they went was in September for Sophia’s birthday. It was now birthday tradition for their group, smuggling alcohol onto the ferry and drinking during the 25 minute ride.

The bright city lights never got boring for Elizabeth, Timothee was used to it, but he watched her instead, never getting bored of her reactions to them. The lights lit up her smile, and she radiated happiness. He could watch it forever.

He knew it was in love with her.

He didn’t fall in love with her at first sight, it wasn’t even in the first few months that they knew each other. It had been so slow when he realized that he was in love, it wasn’t even surprising, it was just how he always felt, just with a word attached to it.

Every time she left, there was this ache in his chest that kept getting bigger, and when she came back it was filled. At first, he was happy to have her there because she reminded him of his sister, she took care of him, made him feel good. Her scent made him feel calm and protected, it was so easy to fall asleep in her arms, and he enjoyed letting go. They cuddled all of the time, and slept in each other’s beds, usually hers.

Timothee had never been in love before, he had dated a few people in high school, but it never lasted for more than two or three weeks, and by a few people he really meant 2. No one ever caught his eye, or nose. This was so new to him, he didn’t know he could feel this strongly about someone else. Even the scent of her brother was different than this, he wasn’t instantly infatuated with Elizabeth, but that made it feel more real. It was slow, and now he didn’t know if he could ever stop feeling this way.

In December, during his heat, he brought Elizabeth’s pillow, and her brothers t-shirt with him, it was the most intense heat he had ever gone through. At times, he sobbed because the pain would be overbearing, and her pillow was the only thing that helped. The scent was soothing, it made him feel the same way he felt when she wrapped her arms around him, and then he was able to get himself off. He imagined her next to him, whispering in his ear that he was a good boy, running her fingers over his cock and hole, helping him to feel better. Timothee had never felt so much pleasure in his life.

After the worst of the heat was over, he imagined her there with him, holding him and whispering how proud she was of him.

“Timmy, what’s wrong? Are you ok?”

He was shaken out of his thoughts.

“I’m fine, Lizzy, I’m more than fine, I promise.”

She laughed, “Ok, so how’s the show coming along?”

He groaned, “It’s the best and worst decision I ever made.”

“Being cast as the lead role in a play as a freshman is the worst decision you’ve ever made?” She smirked.

“Do you know how much Hamlet talks? I just, wish that he would shut up sometimes so I didn’t have to learn so many lines.” He got another slice of cheesecake.

“Oh no, you get to be on stage and say a bunch of lines that other people would kill for. You’re going to be incredible” She poured more of the cherry sauce onto the cheesecake.

“I’m worried that I won’t be good enough, this is such a hard role. I’m only a freshman.” He said quietly. “There are a lot of people who are angry that they cast me, especially the juniors and seniors who are about the graduate in a few months.”

“Hey.” Elizabeth pointed her fork in the air towards him, “You deserve that role, and they wouldn’t have cast you if you didn’t. You’re so incredible at acting Timmy.  Whenever I watch you on stage, it’s like you light up the entire stage. Believe in yourself, I do.” She smiled at him.

Timothee felt like the air had been sucked out of the room as she looked him in the eyes. He couldn’t move, all of his emotions started running rampant, he couldn’t think about anything else. He knew that he looked odd, not moving, eyes wide. He couldn’t do it anymore, couldn’t hide.

Elizabeth didn’t know if she should be scared or laugh, or something else entirely.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours?” She reached over on the couch the smooth out his hair.

He reached up and grabbed her hand, then he brought it to his lips, and then down to the couch between them.

“I love you Lizzy,” Timothee looked at her with fear in his eyes. “I love you so much, and I never want to do anything to hurt you. But I don’t think I can hold this in any longer.”

He kissed her.

Everything was still.

Then something settled in her, something she knew was there all along waiting to come to the surface. Love. She loved him, not just as a protector or a sister, but as another human being. It wasn’t surprising, she realized that she had loved him for a while, she just hadn’t named it yet.

This beautiful, vulnerable, open boy, who had been nothing but honest with her for the last half a year, was here with her, totally exposed. How had she ever thought that he would come between her and Armie? Every insecurity she had completely evaporated, there were no fears left. Just love.

She wanted him in every way that she wanted Armie, wanted to hold him and protect him, fuck him and take his soul apart and then put it back together. She wanted him to do the same to her.

She closed her eyes, took his hands that were nervously clenched by his side, and unfurled them, bringing them around her waist. Moving her own hands up, she threaded them around his neck, and started to kiss back, the cheesecakes forgotten.

Timothee couldn’t believe what was happening, not only was she not yelling at him, but she was kissing back. He knew that she loved him, but he didn’t know if she loved him the way that he loved her.

His mouth stretched into a wide grin, he was so happy that he started to laugh. Elizabeth laughed as well, not understanding but finding him so adorable, eventually it became too difficult to kiss and laugh, so they gave their lips a break.

She studied his face for a moment, _yes, this is right_ , before leaning back over and using her hand to guide his head back in for a kiss. He happily obliged.

After a few moments, she leaned back, smiling as his lips chased after hers, eyes still closed.

“I love you too Timmy.”

 

**February 9 th **

**7am**

The next morning, Timothee woke up slowly, never having felt better in his life. His arms were wrapped around Elizabeth’s stomach, head on her chest and her scent so strong around him that he doesn’t know how he was going to get out of the bed. He could hear the alarm blaring over on his bed, signaling his necessary departure from sleep.

Timothee moaned and started to unwrap his arms from Elizabeth, moving groggily to get out of bed. He felt her shift and her arm tightened around his shoulder.

“No,” she said sleepily, “Stay.”

He smiled, “Let me turn it off and I’ll be right back.”

She opened her eyes half way, “Promise?”

He kissed her, “promise.” Then he jumped out of bed, turned the alarm off, and rushed back over to the bed where her arms were still open. His lips found her lips again and they softly kissed, lazily making out while not quite awake or asleep.

She sighed into the kiss, _I can’t believe we’ve gotten here_ , he was so soft and sweet against her, there was no dominance behind his kisses. It was like he was melting beneath her, soft and pliant.

“Mmm, Lizzy.” He tried to say in between kisses. “Have to, go to, class.” Timothee was fighting a losing battle.

“‘Have to’ is a strong phrase.” She giggled.

He giggled back, “It’s my acting class, if I miss I’ll get hell for it later at practice.”

“Fine.” She dramatically let him go. Timothee kissed her one more time before sliding out of bed and changing. He looked back at her to see her watching him.

Timothee blushed, “don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” She gave him a hungry look.

“Like you want to eat me.” He blushed deeper.

Elizabeth looked at him for a long time, enjoying how he couldn’t look away. “You better go to class before I eat you Timmy.”

“But what if I want you to eat me.” He mumbled as he grabbed his backpack.

“What was that?” She laughed.

“Nothing,” He said quickly and slid out the door.

\---

**11:45am**

After class and lunch, Timothee made his way back to his dorm. He had a few hours before play rehearsal and was hoping to take a nap. Keeping up with classes, rehearsal, and life was difficult and his sleep was suffering.

Before he knew it, he was back at the room. Timothee let his bag fall to the floor, then he kicked his shoes off and fell into Elizabeth’s bed. She wouldn’t be back for a few hours, last semester she had Tuesdays completely off, but this semester she had two 3 hour classes back to back. _She deserves it_ , he thought to himself.

He breathed in her scent and instantly felt his muscles relax, sinking further into the cushions. _Why didn’t we start doing this sooner?_ He smiled. Timothee thought about the previous night, and that morning. _It felt so good to kiss her_. Now he didn’t have to pretend not to be in love with his roommate. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, stretching out his legs.

 _What’s that?_ He felt his leg hit something underneath the covers, it felt like something hard but it wasn’t heavy. Reaching down, he grabbed it and saw that it was a box, he brought it up above the covers. It was a package that had been shipped, the top was open and inside there was a note with tissue paper surrounding it. Whatever was inside of the box had already been taken out. Timothee took the note out and flipped it over, assuming it was a gift for Elizabeth’s birthday.

_Happy Birthday/Valentine’s Day Liz,_

_I love you so much, I can’t believe it’s almost been five years together, here’s to so many more._

_Armie_

_Armie?_ He thought. _Who is Armie?_

He stared at the letter for a moment, not understanding what was happening.

He felt numb, he couldn’t believe what he had just read.

_She has a boyfriend, or mate._

His world exploded.

_What? Who is that? Why? Why didn’t I know?_

He started to look around her side of the room, his breath coming out faster, his eyes tearing up. He looked around at the pictures, they were mostly of her family.

Except for one.

Timothee shot up and pressed himself against the wall, there was one picture, he noticed it sometime in the first few days that they lived together, he always thought that it was her parents or some friends, he never took the time to look at it closer, the figures were kind of far away.

 _It’s her._ He whimpered.

 _And that’s Armie._ Tears started coming down his cheeks.

_How could I have been so stupid?_

He went over to her desk, opening drawers, looking for anything else that he could find, if she had a boyfriend/mate, there’s no way that she didn’t have anything else.

In the bottom drawer of her desk, under a bunch of loose papers, his hand bumped into book, he tore it out and saw that it was a photo album.

 _Oh._ He thought. The title said: 5 years

He fell to his knees with the album, tears falling onto the cover, it was the same photo that she had on the wall. He flipped through the pages, slowly looking at each one. _He’s so handsome,_ Timothee thought. _No wonder she’s with him_. He fell apart, tears streaming, it was hard to see, and they fell onto the pages, tears blurring the images on the pages. Then he slammed the album shut, and got off the floor.

With shaky fingers, he dialed his sister’s number on his cell phone. He grabbed his backpack, and swung it over his shoulders.

“Hey Timmy!”

He tried to speak but nothing came out.

“Timmy? What’s wrong?”

“I-”

“Are you ok?” She was scared. ‘Timmy, are you ok?”

“No,” he managed to get out.

“Are you safe? Where are you?”

He took a deep breath, “No, I’m safe, I’m just- not ok.”

“Can you make it to my apartment by yourself?”

“Yeah, just, gives me a half hour.”

“OK Timmy, it’s gonna be ok, if you need me before then, call me and I’ll get to you ok?”

He stifled a sob, “Ok.” He hung up the phone.

Nothing felt like it was ever going to be ok again.


	8. February 9th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate all of the love and am pleasantly surprised that people are enjoying this story! Thank you! 
> 
> Next chapter will be what everyone has been waiting for, Hammer time :D

**Warning: This chapter has a panic attack in it, in the second section at 3pm.**

 

**February 9th th**

 

**4pm**

When Elizabeth got back to her room, she was still thinking of the previous night and that morning. She couldn’t believe that Timothee had told her he loved her, she couldn’t believe that maybe the three of them could be together. _How did I get so lucky?_ Armie had been everything she had ever dreamed of having in a partner, their love built as they grew up together, they knew everything about each other. Elizabeth thought that if the two stayed together for the rest of their lives, she would have been lucky enough. When Timothee came into her life, she never thought that her luck would continue.

Timothee should’ve been back already, but with his schedule he was always in different places around campus. She looked forward to getting him back, then they could leave off where they were this morning, before he left the bed. A smile crept onto her face slowly, but she couldn’t stop, it was amazing how things had transpired over the past few days.

Tonight she was going to tell him about Armie. She didn’t know how she could have felt so afraid before, but now she was excited about the future that the three of them would have together.

She dropped her bag onto her bed, before grimacing at the disarray. _I thought I cleaned all of this up. When did it-_

Elizabeth felt a wave of panic wash over her body. _Wait, no, it was put away._ Armies’ note was on her bed, the box he sent her was halfway ripped and she knew that she had hidden those under her sheets. H _e could have found them if he got in my bed._ She wanted to cry. Standing up, she started to make her way to the door, her foot hit something.

Looking down, her heart caught in her throat. _Can this get any worse?_ The photo album that Armie had sent her for her birthday was there on the floor, the picture of them on the back of his truck kissing was there for anyone to see.

_No._

_No._

_No!_

Elizabeth didn’t know what to do, she grabbed her phone and called Armie, pacing around the room.

“Hey Liz!” His warm voice came over the speakers, she almost sobbed.

“Armie, he’s gone.”

“What? Who’s gone?”

“Timmy.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know where he went!” Elizabeth cried, frantically looking around his side of the room.

“What makes you think he’s missing?”

“He found it, the photo album, your letter, he knows Armie.” She fell onto the bed, tears filling her eyes. “What am I going to do?”

“It’s going to be ok Liz, it’s going to be ok.” He said, trying to be comforting, but feeling unsure himself.

“It’s not, what is he even thinking now? This is all my fault.”

“It’s not, its ok.”

“I should have just told him, like you said, he’s never going to trust me again.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do, this is the worst possible time this could have happened.”

“Liz.”

“He’s never going to want to speak to me again.”

“Liz.”

“How did I mess this up so badly?”

“LIZ!”

Elizabeth was startled out of her thoughts. “Sorry.” She said softly.

“Liz, it’s going to be ok. But you have to find him.” He sounded sad.

“I’m so sorry Armie, this is my fault, if I’ve ruined things, for both of us, I’m so sorry.”

She looked at his desk, and noticed a few photos, some of him and his friends, others with his family.

_Pauline._

“Oh God.” She said.

“What?”

“I can’t believe I forgot, I have his sisters phone number, she would know where he went.”

“What? That’s great, call her!” Armie sounded excited.

Elizabeth bounced off the bed and grabbed her coat, putting it on as quickly as she could. “I will, bye Ar-.”

“Liz.” He said, urgently, adding a growl into the tone of his voice. She stopped moving.

“Bring him back, ok, for both of us. Call me.”

“I will, I promise.” She hung up the phone and rushed out of the room, the door slammed shut behind her as she raced down the hall. Once she reached the elevator she found Pauline’s name in her contacts and pressed call.

There was no answer.

_Shit._ She thought and redialed the number. No answer again. _No, this can’t be happening._

Next call, no answer, she left a voicemail.

“Pauline, this is Elizabeth, Lizzy, I’m looking for Timmy. Look, if he’s with you then he told you what happened. Please, he doesn’t know everything, I was going to tell him this weekend, but it just didn’t happen. That sounds really bad, but it’s not what he thinks, he doesn’t know. Please, please, call me back, please let me come see him, I can fix everything.”

Elizabeth made her way to the subway, heading towards the upper west side, she had no idea where she was going but she knew that she had to try to get to Timothee.

She looked at her phone, _no missed calls._

Picking up her phone, she tried calling Pauline again, no answer, and again, no answer.

She left another voicemail.

“Please Pauline, this is Elizabeth again, please if he’s there with you, tell me where you are. I need to see him, I need to speak with him. I’m not cheating with him, I promise, it’s not what he thinks. Please, I love him, I do, and once we can talk it’s going to be-

There was call waiting on the other side. It was from Pauline.

Elizabeth had never pressed a button faster in her life.

“Pauline.” She said breathlessly.

“Hello Elizabeth.” Pauline said curtly.

“Please, is he with you? Where’s Timmy?” She couldn’t stop the tears from coming down.

“He’s here with me.” She sounded curt.

“Please, listen to me, it’s not what he thinks.”

“So you’re not using my brother to cheat on your mate?”

Elizabeth couldn’t stop from lightly laughing through her tears. It was shaky and panicked, she didn't recognize her own voice.

“No, no, this is such a nightmare. I swear, that is not what's happening. I have a boyfriend, Armie, that’s who he saw, I just never told him, Timmy I mean, about him. But you have to believe me, I’m not cheating on him, he knows about Timmy, we want to court him, together, we both want Timmy, we just didn’t know how he would feel about Armie.”

The line was quiet for a moment.

“Please Pauline, Timmy told me about your mates, Abby and Sarah. What it was like for you and Abby when you found Sarah. Please, that’s all Armie and I want with Timmy.”

“He’s so upset Elizabeth.”

“I know, I know, I can fix it, I’ll fix it.”

“He doesn’t think that he deserves you.”

“What! How could he think that? He’s perfect.”

Pauline snorted, “I’ll have to disagree there. But he's special.”

“Is there any way that you would let me come see him?”

Pauline sighed, “You can’t hurt him like this again, I’ve never seen him this upset. He’s my little brother, I’ll protect him from anything, even you.”

“I will never hurt him again, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to him. I am so sorry, I need to tell him that and explain.”

“Ok, I’ll text you my address.”

“Thank you, Pauline, I’ll see you soon.”

Once she got the address, she put it into google maps and got off the subway after a few stops. Then she ran the rest of the way to Timothee.

 

\---

 

February 9th

**3pm**

Timothee woke up and didn’t know where he was, just that it wasn’t the dorm. He was warm, and felt his head on a pillow, there was a soft presence under his neck and back, and fingers combing through his hair. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, enjoying the hand in his hair.

He was at his sisters, the events of the previous few hours coming back to him. Sadness fell back on him and he whimpered softly.

“Timmy?” A voice whispered.

He was still, he didn’t want to remember what had happened only a few hours ago. If he didn’t move, maybe he could pretend that he never had his heart broken. Maybe everything could go back to normal.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” His voice was hoarse, it was hard to talk.

“You scared me so much Timmy.”

 

_Timothee made his way to his sister’s apartment, he decided to walk instead of take the subway. He wished that it was raining, it would have set the mood more. It was hard to feel anything, he had stopped crying after he left the dorm. He knew that he was shoving everything down, but it was helping him survive for the moment. He also knew that it wasn’t going to last._

_Eventually he turned onto the street of his sister’s apartment. He knocked on the door a few times before it swung open, Pauline’s face was concerned and confused._

_“Timmy, what’s going on?” He couldn’t answer, even though he wanted to make his sister feel better. Timothee knew that the moment he opened his mouth, the numbness he felt would break. It was easier not to feel, especially when feeling meant that he would completely fall apart. He was so scared, he had never felt this broken in his life._

_Timothee walked into her apartment, “Are Abby and Sarah here?” He managed to get out quickly. Starting to feel the walls of his mental shield crack._

_“No, they’re not, they’re still at work.” They made their way into the kitchen, Timothee stood in the doorway, arms crossed against his chest. Pauline got two glasses of water and then turned to slowly walk towards him. He felt like a caged animal._

_“Come on, let’s go sit down.” She guided them towards the living room, onto the couch. The glasses were put onto the coffee table in front of them, Pauline sat and watched her brother. He watched his hands in his lap._

_“Timmy, what’s going on?”_

_He couldn’t look at her, he didn’t know what to say._

_“Um, everything’s… gone wrong.”_

_She studied him, “Is it about Elizabeth?”_

_His eyes went wide, “Why do you think it’s about her?”_

_Her eyes softened and she reached out to touch his shoulder, “I know how you feel about her, it’s obvious from the way you speak about her and the things you do. When we spoke a few months ago, I figured that things had changed for you. You were starting to talk about mates and I had never heard you talk about that before.”_

_Timothee could feel himself starting to shake, ‘no, don’t think about it.’ He was trying so hard to keep everything in._

_Pauline scooted closer to her brother and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, “Timmy, talk to me, what happened? It’s ok, whatever it is.”_

_“It’s not ok.” The words tore out of his throat, “It’s never going to be ok again.” The tears started falling, they fell uncontrollably._

_She didn’t know what else to do besides hug him tighter. “Timmy.”_

_“She has a mate.” He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “He, he’s gorgeous, and back in California.” It was hard to get the words out, “she didn’t tell me,” panting, “five years.” Between the tears and the breathing, Timothee didn’t know how much longer he could keep going. Not being able to breathe made him cry more, which was making everything harder._

_Pauline was shocked, “Timmy, it’s ok, it’s ok baby, come here.” She pulled him into her arms, and turned his head into her chest, rocking him gently._

_“I can’t breathe Pauley, can’t breathe.”_

_“It’s ok Timmy, you’re going to be ok, don’t talk baby, ok?”_

_He felt like he was gasping for air, it wouldn’t come in, it was hard to think. Even though he knew he was having a panic attack, he had no idea how to stop it._

_“Just let it happen, its ok, it’ll end soon.” He felt his sister hold him tightly, her hand smoothing his hair down and rocking him. Timothee didn’t know what to do, so he let go._

_I guess I passed out_ , he thought. Timothee had only had two other panic attacks before, one from art modeling and the other from being too worked up over a monologue. Never had his own feelings taken him down this far.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“Oh Timmy, its ok you don’t need to apologize, I’m just worried.”

“She has a mate.” He said softly, this time he didn’t feel like he was going to cry. Instead he felt heavy, sad, like there weren’t any more tears left.

“You said earlier that he lives in California?” She approached the subject cautiously, not wanting to send him into another panic attack.

He nodded, “His name is Armie.”

“Oh Timmy.” She hurt for her younger brother, and had no idea what the situation was with the two of them.

“I should have known, there was no way that she would want me.”

“That’s not true Timmy, you’re amazing, so many people would be lucky to have you.”

“Not her.”

“Timmy.” She turned his face to look at hers.

“I know it’s hard to believe right now, especially since the wound is so fresh, but no matter what happens with you and Elizabeth, it will be ok one day. Not today, not tomorrow, and probably not for a while, but eventually. I don’t know everything, and I don’t know what will happen between the two of you, but she is not the only person out there. Her actions have nothing to do with you. You are not responsible for anything that she has done.”

It was like the words weren’t reaching him, Pauline was used to her little brother listening to her and trusting her. Besides their parents, Pauline was the only other alpha in his life, she took her role as his big sister very seriously. Even though Timothee could be a pain in the ass sometimes, she was always there for him, she could always make him feel better.

_I feel so helpless_ , she thought. She didn’t know if she could help this time, it was out of her hands. Pauline knew that one day her brother would find people to love and who loved him back. But she never thought that he’d have to deal with so much pain.

Timothee was quiet again, his eyes shut.

“Go to sleep Timmy, it’ll be ok.” She whispered, tracing her fingers down the side of his face. After he was asleep, she gently shifted him off of her lap and onto the couch, a pillow placed under his head. Then she grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch to lay over him.

Quietly making her way into the kitchen, Pauline texted her mates.

Timmy is here, he’s not ok, could you come in quietly and let me know when you’re ten minutes away?

_ Absolutely, Abby’s here with me but her phones dead, does he need anything? _

Thanks love, I don’t know, I’ve never seen him like this, relationship issues.

_ Let me know if I can get anything. _

Do you two mind if he stays here tonight?

_ Of course not! Anything for Timmy!_

You two spoil him more than I do

_ We don’t have siblings, we have taken him as our own now >:D_

Pauline smiled and looked back into the living room, she could see her brother from the kitchen, her phone buzzed.

_ Pauline, its Abby, hijacked Sarah’s phone. He’s going to be ok sweetheart, I know how much you love him and worry about him, but he’s going to be ok.  _

_ It’s Sarah! We’re bringing Starbucks! We got you a venti.  _

Pauline felt tears gather in her eyes. She wiped them away and smiled. _Not today, but eventually, it’s going to be ok._

 

\---

 

4:23pm

Elizabeth ran to the door and furiously knocked on it. She watched the door with wide eyes, feeling her body take gasps of air as she stood in front of the building. It was the longest wait she ever had in her life.

Finally the door opened, a short blonde haired woman smiled at her, “are you Elizabeth?” She asked.

“Yes!” She yelled, “Sorry, yes, I am, can I please see Timmy?”

The woman smiled, “Come on in, Pauline wants to talk to you.” She backed away from the door and held it open. Elizabeth walked inside as calmly as she could, she felt like she was going to burst if she didn’t see him.

“Elizabeth.” She saw Pauline walking towards her, the other woman looked tired, and her eyes were puffy.

“Hi, Pauline.” Elizabeth replied, not meeting her eyes.

The two looked at each other, two people who were both in a similar predicament, wanting to love and protect the same man, but not certain of what to do.

“Pauline, I’m so sorry.”

“Tell him that.” She said softly.

“Where is he?”

“There’s a guest bedroom upstairs on the right, he was sleeping last time I checked on him.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth started to move towards the stairs.

“Elizabeth,” Pauline said in a firmer voice, “My brother loves you, and I know that he makes his own choices, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect him.”

Elizabeth smiled, “then we have that in common.” She looked up the stairs, and quickly made her way to the room.

The door was slightly cracked open, she could see that Timothee was laying on the bed, covers pulled up to his chest. He was on his phone, back facing the door.

Elizabeth took a deep breath in and then gently pushed open the door. Timothee heard the noise and looked back at the door, his face changing from surprise, to hurt, to sad in seconds.

“Timmy, I’m so sorry.” She could feel her eyes well up as she approached the bed. He shifted back, like he was trying to get away. She froze.

“I wanted to tell you so bad, I was going to tell you this weekend. This is all my fault, I never meant to keep it a secret from you.”

A whine fell from his throat.

“You never meant to keep it a secret? What was I supposed to be? Your back up while you were in New York?” Timothee was trying to stay calm but he felt like another knife had been plunged into the bleeding wound she had made.

“No, never.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening Lizzy, I thought you loved me.”

“I do! I do Timmy, so much.” She could feel the tears falling. “Please, please just let me explain.” Her eyes were pleading.

Timothee didn’t know what to say. He stayed quiet but also stayed away.

Elizabeth got her phone out, found a picture of her boyfriend, and moved closer to Timothee to hand him the phone. She sat on the side of the bed.

“This is Armie, he’s my boyfriend, and we’ve been together for 5 years.”

Timothee swallowed, “I know, I found your photo album.”

Elizabeth smiled, “you did, I found it on the floor, I figured you had seen. We’ve been together for 5 years, he’s an alpha and I’m a beta. We’re going to mate one day, but we didn’t want to do it while we were on completely different sides of the country. It’s always been the two of us, we didn’t have plans to look for other partner.”

“I get it.” Timothee looked at his hands.

“No,” Elizabeth moved closer to him on the bed, covering his hands with hers. “I don’t think you do. Everything changed in the fall, when I met you. I met this adorable, smart, talented, beautiful person who became one of my best friends. Over the months I fell in love with this person, and they fell in love with me. Armie has known about you since December break, you have never been a secret.”

“Then why was he a secret?”

She took a moment to think, “I think, it was easier not to talk about him. This is the first time in years that we’ve been apart. Every time I thought about bringing him up, I felt like I was being torn apart, I knew that I would start crying. I didn’t want to go there. Everything really did change in the fall, the life I had for the past 5 years started changing, I didn't know how to handle it.”

“But didn’t it get easier after a while? I don’t like to see you cry Lizzy, but it would have been ok.” He wanted her to feel accepted, _even when he’s hurting_. She wanted to pull him into her arms, but she knew that would stop the conversation.

“It did, but then there were other things that happened.” Elizabeth smiled, she wanted to laugh. “Timmy, there’s something else I’ve been keeping from you, I don’t know how to tell you this.”

Timothee was scared, what else could she possibly not have told him? He whined again.

“Oh, no Timmy, it’s not bad. I just should have told you before. Do you remember the white and black shirts that I had with me after I came back from vacations?” She asked as gently as she could.

_Oh no, she knows, she knows_. Timothee’s brain was on red alert. _That’s it, she doesn’t trust me, God, how could she, I took her things, her brothers things._ His face turned bright red, “Um, yes, I remember them.”

She smiled, “I know you took them, its ok, if you hadn’t then we might not be here today.”

Timothee couldn’t have been more confused.

“You see,” she laughed, “those shirts belonged to Armie, my boyfriend.”

The world stopped spinning, Timothee felt like the floor had opened up underneath of him. He wished the floor would open up, then he could crawl in and never come in.

“What?” He sputtered. _No, no, no._

“There was a night, when we were cuddled up together on the couch, I was wearing one of his shirts, I saw, well I noticed that you... liked the way it smelled.”

Timothee was dying, he was trying to find a way out. _This has to be a joke, of course this is why she didn’t tell you about Armie, she didn’t want her boyfriend to find out about her creepy roommate._

“At first I thought it was just a one-time thing, but then there were other times where you, um, were affected,” she blushed thinking about the day she came back from winter break to him masturbating, “and I realized that maybe you two were a good match for each other.”

_What?_ He thought, feeling less like he wanted to evaporate into thin air.

“Over the winter break, I stole one of your sweaters, I’m sorry, I wanted to know how Armie would react to you. Let’s just say that your scent affects him just as strongly as his affects you.”

“It’s not your brother?” Timothee blurted out, his hands covering his mouth the second after the words left him.

Elizabeth was stunned, “what?” she laughed. “My brother?”

He couldn’t look her in the eyes, “I, I thought it was your brothers scent, the alpha, who has kids? I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t want to make it weird, I could never do anything to hurt you or your family.”

She couldn’t help herself anymore, she lurched forward and hugged him tightly. He breathed in her scent and felt like crying again.

“Timmy, I’m so sorry, I should have told you about all of this sooner.”

“Why didn’t you?” His voice was muffled by her shirt and chest.

“I was so afraid, I thought that maybe the two of you wouldn’t need me anymore if you met. The two of you have such strong reactions to each other, and you don’t even know each other. You’re alpha and omega, you can give each other things that I can't give you. I love both of you so much that I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.” She couldn’t stop the tears from coming down, they landed on his soft curls.

He hugged her around the waist as tightly as he could, “That’s impossible Lizzy, I love you so much that I didn’t know how to breathe properly when I thought that you didn’t want me anymore.”

They were silent as they enjoyed each other’s presence for a few moments.

“It would never matter how amazing Armie is, and I’m sure he is, another person would never stop me from needing you or wanting you. You love both Armie and me, it doesn’t matter how much I would love another person, I would love you just as much. I don’t have a max capacity on love in my heart, if I did then it would already be full because of you.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you Timmy.”

“I don’t know what I did to get you.”

They smiled through their tears together.

Elizabeth got her phone, “I think it’s time that you met someone.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment below!


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